


Finding the Iron Dove

by cakeengland, Night_StormCaptain



Series: Quest for the Legends [1]
Category: Pirate101 (Video Game)
Genre: Collab, Gen, It gets better as it goes on, bc of course we have to get it off the ground first, i probably forgot someone - Freeform, i think that's all the main characters btw, implicit gayness, seriously the plot is better in the later chapters, the work of three whole years lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-07
Updated: 2016-09-30
Packaged: 2018-08-07 08:11:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 36,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7707484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cakeengland/pseuds/cakeengland, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Night_StormCaptain/pseuds/Night_StormCaptain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hannah and Destiny have much in common.  Each is a pirate.  Each has some degree of skill at summoning spirits of the dead.  And each has had her life saved by a legend of the Skyways; Hannah by a mysterious swashbuckler called the Storm Captain (know to her friends as Holly), Destiny by a daring privateer called the Iron Dove (though her given name is Marissa).  These two legends have gone missing, and their young friends are worried.  The girls decided to team up to find them... who knows if their quest will succeed, or end in tragedy?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> As the tags say, this is a collab between my friend Night and I. Night does not have an account here, but if she ever gets one, I will add her as a co-author. I have her permission to post this. She writes the odd-numbered chapters, and I the even, so this chapter was written by her.

Concentrating fiercely, Sunny Hannah Silver incanted the words of the spell, passing her staff before herself, twirling it in the air, and planting it in the ground in the center of the circle of bone dust.  Sweat beaded her forehead as the spell grew more intense, her chanting became louder, and her bright green eyes began to glow like a pair of miniature suns.  An eerie light surrounded her staff, which was sticking out of the ground, and it began to rise, seemingly of its own accord.  It spun around once in the air, then began to shoot downward.  As it did so, Hannah shouted the words, “Holly Aurelia Everret!”  The name of the spirit she wanted to summon.  Also, completely non-coincidentally, the name of her best friend. 

At that point, the ghost of the mightiest pirate Hannah had ever known should have appeared to speak with her.  She should have had one last chance at talking to her friend; one last chance to ask what had happened in the Armada fortress when Holly had blown it up.  Instead of any of this happening, there was a loud _bang!_ and a cloud of pure-black ash coated everything within a fifteen-foot radius of the staff.  Hannah was not spared; her white-blond hair became a sooty, dusty black, and her clothes were caked with a thick layer of the stuff. 

Hannah sighed.  _Failed again,_ she thought dismally to herself.  _Why isn’t this working?_ It was the third time she had tried to summon Holly, and the exact same thing had happened every time.  She resolved to ask Madame Vadima, her trainer, what exactly she was doing wrong.  She picked up her staff (miraculously ash-free, as always) and began the trek down from her secluded hollow at the top of Skull Mountain. 

By the time Hannah reached Vadima’s sanctum, which was just off of Avery’s Court, she was soaked with sweat, coated with ash, and extremely disheartened.  She hadn’t even had a chance to say goodbye, as she and her other friends had expected Holly to make it out alive.  She pushed aside the curtain concealing the cave and barged in. 

“Why isn’t my spell working?” she demanded.  “I’ve done everything you told me exactly right, but all that I can summon is a cloud of black ash!” 

Vadima chuckled.  “Dear child,” she purred, “only thing you are doing wrong is summoning live spirit.  If spirit does not come, spirit is not dead.” 

Hannah’s demeanor changed with a snap from angry and disheartened to hopeful.  A painfully wide smile split her face.  “You really think she’s alive?” 

“I know so.  Go now, find friend.  Waste no more of my time or yours.” 

“Okay!”  Hannah raced down to the docks, nearly slamming into an old blind cat on the way there.  Sparing barely a moment to call an apology over her shoulder, she continued on her way. 

As she reached the docks and whipped her bottled ship out of her pack, she noticed a girl about her age sitting on the dock, staring at the most miserable ship Hannah had ever seen.  It could hardly be called a ship — its hull was made of old casks, which were in turn covered with rickety, rotting planks to serve as a sort of deck.  A single battered, rusty cannon stuck out of one of the barrels, and several long planks lashed together served as a mast, with an old blanket for the sail.  Even the flag, emblazoned with a red dragon, was battered and torn. 

Even so, Hannah could tell it could technically be considered skyworthy; that couldn’t be why the girl had a look of abject terror on her face, nor could it explain the way she watched ships come and go as though she was watching a friend be murdered.  Hannah knelt beside her and asked, “What’s wrong?” 

The girl turned to her.  Though she appeared to be trying to keep calm, her voice shook as she said, “I don’t like flying.” 

Hannah couldn’t help but let a chuckle escape.  “You’re afraid of the Skyways?  What kind of pirate are you?” 

Instantly the girl was on her feet, had dragged Hannah up beside her, and had her staff pointed at Hannah’s chest.  “Not one more word out of you,” she said through gritted teeth.  “You don’t understand.  My parents were killed in the Skyways — shipwrecked.  I don’t want to end up like them!” 

Hannah gently pushed the staff aside.  “Whoa, calm down!” she exclaimed.  “You don’t need to be scared!  My parents died the same way, but I still fly.” 

But the girl wasn’t listening.  She was firing spell after spell and shouting incoherently in a fit of indignation.  Hannah tolerated this for about a minute; then she seized the staff, tossed it onto the dock behind her, and grabbed the girl by the shoulders.  “Pay attention for a moment,” she insisted, her voice level but impossible to ignore.  She forced the girl to look her in the eyes.  “Look,” she continued.  “I understand you’re afraid of flying.  There’s no need to be scared.  You won’t crash and suffer your parents’ fate.” 

“But what if I do?”  The girl had gone from angry back into just plain scared, apparently easily calmed. 

Hannah sighed.  “Maybe I’m going about this the wrong way.  Where is it exactly that you want to go?” 

“Blood Shoals,” the girl replied reluctantly.  “I’ve been chasing a scoundrel named Ratbeard who has a means of finding a treasure that I want.  He and his crew were headed for Blood Shoals, so that’s where I want to go.” 

“I have a ship, and I daresay it’s better than that lump of wood anyway.  I can fly you there, if you want.” 

“Oh, _would_ you?”  The girl sounded equal parts relieved and delighted, but then she hesitated.  “I don’t even know your _name.”_  

Hannah lauged.  “That could be important, yeah.  The name’s Sunny Hannah Silver, but just call me Hannah.” 

“Nice to meet you, Hannah,” the girl replied, shaking her hand.  “I’m Dashing Destiny Donnely.  Now, what do you say we go catch some rats?” 

A thought crossed Hannah’s mind, and she said, “Wait a minute.  Before I help you, I’d like to ask a favor in return.” 

“What favor?” 

“A friend of mine is missing.  Until today, I thought she was dead, but when I tried to summon her spirit, it didn’t work — because she’s alive.  Would you be willing to help me find her?” 

Destiny thought about it.  “Who is she?” 

“Her name is Stormy Holly Everret, but most people don’t know that, as she keeps her identity quite well-hidden.  Have you ever heard of the Storm Captain?  Dashing rogue, finest Swashbuckler in the Skyways, most powerful pirate, some say?” It occurred to her too late that giving out her friend's secret identity like that was probably not the best idea, but the damage was done. 

“Can’t say that I have,” Destiny admitted. 

Hannah barely stifled a slightly rude question.  “Well, that’s who I’m looking for.” 

Destiny thought some more.  “I’m quite willing.  Just let me…”  She stopped midsentence, and a look of something akin to worry clouded her face.  “Oh, no…” 

“What is it?” 

“I think I may have my own missing person to deal with.” 

“And you just realized this?” 

“Well, I hadn’t thought about it in months.  There’s a girl I owe my life, named Shy Marissa Silver.  She’s called the Iron Dove, and I guess you could say she’s another legend of the Skyways: bold, brave, compassionate, and powerful.  We became good friends before she had to leave for something, and she said she would contact me again; it’s been almost a year, and she still hasn’t gotten back to me.  I don’t think she’d leave me hanging like this unless something had happened!” 

“Can you be sure?” 

“The more I think about it, the more certain I am!” 

Hannah frowned.  “I wonder if you’re just being paranoid.” 

“Well, would you at least be willing to help me check — to find her and see if she’s all right?” 

“I suppose I would,” Hannah conceded. 

“Great!” Destiny replied, looking slightly less worried, but not much.  “Let’s find some legends.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was written by me.

When the _Bronze Garnet_ docked at Blood Shoals, Destiny’s immediate reaction was to lean overboard and throw up. 

Ugh, how gross. 

 _So that’s what it’s like to be_ _skysick_ _,_ she thought grimly, swallowing to verify that she had indeed finished expelling her breakfast.  After confirming that, she shakily stepped down onto the dock, resisting the urge to drop to her knees and kiss the ground like it was her sole lifeline. 

Which actually sounded really appealing right now. 

“Destiny, you’re as pale as a ghost,” Hannah commented as she joined her new friend.  “You really don’t like flying, huh?” 

“Nope.”  Destiny closed her eyes, sucked in a deep breath, and then exhaled.  “Okay, I think I’m good now,” she decided, opening her eyes again.  “It’s time to find us some rats!” 

Sighing quietly, Hannah didn’t utter a word, instead making her way towards the shores of the floating island.  Destiny quickly hurried after her, the wind playing with her long tendrils of blonde hair.  Swatting some away from her face, the young witchdoctor stepped onto the golden banks of sand and was immediately thankful she was wearing shoes; even through them, she could feel the intense heat that the tiny yellow grains were emitting. 

Scanning the horizon, she saw three other folks standing about the place.  There was a blue-shelled, wrinkled crab (she could almost hear her friend Valeria irritably correcting her:  _“It’s a_ Crustacean.  _From a lost, distant world called_ _Celestia_ _._ ), a sad-looking wharf rat (not one of the ones she was looking for; it was much too downcast for that), and a young male pirate.  Turning her attention away from them, she began to scan the vicinity for clues. 

“Look down, Destiny, not up.”  Hannah’s voice jarred her from her thoughts.  Glancing at her feet, she saw what her companion was talking about; there were five sets of footprints that could only belong to wharf rats. 

“Looks like they lead to that cave over there,” Destiny noticed after a moment.  “We should probably check it out.”  Hannah nodded in agreement. 

The pair trekked over to the cave mouth, but as they peered in, they couldn’t see much except bones littering the passage, before it twisted and turned away into darkness. 

Suddenly, a voice with a thick Scottish accent sounded from behind them.  “Captain, there are tracks leading _into_ the cave, but none leading _out._ We may be in for a fight.” 

Destiny jumped, but then her eyes widened.  _That accent…_ _it's just like Bella's!_  

She turned and was greeted by the sight an orange-furred vixen wearing a yellow-and-red uniform that perfectly matched the colors of the _Bronze Garnet_ ’s flag.  She had a rifle slung over her shoulder, allowing Destiny to identify her as a musketeer. 

Hannah nodded.  “Thank you, Bonnie.”  She turned to Destiny.  “Destiny, real quick, this is one of my crewmates, Bonnie Anne.” 

Bonnie smiled at Destiny, holding her hand out.  “A pleasure to meet you, Destiny.” 

Destiny stared at the offered hand for a moment before shaking it.  “You too, Bonnie.”  A question was nagging at her and wouldn’t leave her alone.  “Hey, are you related to Bella Anne, by any chance?” 

The fox musketeer raised an eyebrow.  “Yes, actually; she’s my twin sister.  I haven’t seen her in years, though.” 

“Oh.”  _So we won’t be getting a lead off her about Marissa, then._ She glanced at Hannah.  “Shall we get going then?” 

Hannah shrugged.  “No reason not to.  Bonnie, are you coming?” 

“You bet, Captain!” Bonnie affirmed. 

The passage was actually rather short, and soon opened into a much more spacious cave.  The trio was expecting rats and it was rats they got, only they were sort of… well… 

Dead.  Spirits.  Ghosts.  Ratbeard was nowhere to be seen. 

Destiny, naturally, gave a loud gasp of surprise.  Hannah elbowed her in the gut, hard, but too late; the damage was done.  The ghost rats had noticed them. 

“Wait!  Ye still live!  Stay and hear my tale of woe, I beg ye!” 

Destiny hesitated.  _It can’t hurt._ “Fine.  Tell me what happened here.” 

“After we stole the Will,” the rat began, “we sailed back here to feast in celebration.  ‘We’ll soon be rich, boys!’  That’s what Ratbeard told us.”  He sneered. 

Destiny raised an eyebrow. 

“But the food was poisoned!  He left us all here to rot.  If you don’t do something, he’ll have the treasure all to himself!” 

“Where’s Ratbeard?”  she asked curtly. 

“Wait just a moment, pirate.  Our spirits are trapped here.  We have unfinished business, debts o’ heart and honor that leash us here like chains o’ steel.”  He paused briefly.  “You can grant me eternal rest by makin’ sure Ratbeard never takes Gunn’s treasure.  But that won’t help me shipmates, Manny, Moe, an’ Jack.  They have their own troubles binding them.  I’ll not set ye on Ratbeard’s trail ‘till I know they won’t be left behind.  Moe, there, he’s a good lad, but he has a trouble in his past.  Start with him.”  He indicated one of the other ghosts with a transparent finger. 

Destiny strode over to the indicated rat.  “You’re Moe, then?  As you probably just heard, my friends and I are here to help you.” 

“When I was just a young rat, I served under a captain named Jimmy,” Moe began.  “However, Jimmy was cruel.  He always made me do the lowest errands, and I only got scraps to eat.” 

Destiny listened intently.  _Poor thing…_ _even if he is a_ _wharf_ _rat._  

“Once I grew up a bit, I had the common sense to leave Jimmy’s crew.  But I never once stood up for myself, and that fact makes me bitter.” 

“So you want revenge,” Bonnie cut in.  “What do we need to do?” 

“Jimmy, he had a priceless golden hook in place of his left hand.  Not long after I left, his ship crashed in a treacherous cavern known as Perdition’s Cauldron.  The hook is likely still on the ruins of his ship, just waiting to be stolen — if ye can get past Jimmy and his ghost crew, that is.  If ye bring me that hook, I’ll know peace.” 

 _Perdition’s Cauldron.  Great.  Even I know that can only be reached by ship._ “Hannah, you got that?” 

“Yep,” was her new friend’s reply.  “Shall we head out now?” 

Destiny nodded.  “No sense in hanging around.” 

“Point taken,” Hannah agreed with a nod of her head. 

* * *

Destiny was resting in the cabin of the _Bronze Garnet,_ her eyes squeezed shut as she tried her hardest not to be sick.  A headache was already starting to seep into her brain, and she gritted her teeth, her hands balling into fists and leaving fingernail marks on her palms. 

“You are the Captain’s new friend, yes?” 

Destiny opened her eyes and sat up as a thick, unfamiliar voice reached her ears.  A small water-mole witchdoctor stood at the entrance to the cabin. 

“Yeah, I’m Destiny.  Who’re you?” she inquired. 

“Mormo.”  _Aww, a cute name for a cute water-mole,_ Destiny couldn’t help thinking.  “Mormo is pleased to meet you.”  _Oh, that’s just too cute.  He speaks in third-person!_  

“You too, Mormo,” Destiny said with a smile.  “I’m sure we’ll be good friends.”  The little water-mole beamed, then grew solemn. 

“Mormo heard you are afraid of the Skyways.  Mormo wonders if you are all right.” 

“I’m fine,” Desiny assured him, still smiling.  “I appreciate the concern, though.” 

“Are you sure?” asked Mormo.  “Mormo can make a potion to cure skysickness.” 

“No, really, I’m fine,” she assured him again.  “I’m sure we’ll be there soon anyway.” 

As if on cue, Bonnie strode into the cabin.  “Hello, Mormo,” she greeted, barely sparing the water-mole a glance.  “Destiny, Hannah sent me to tell you we just reached Perdition’s Cauldron.”  Destiny managed another smile, doing her best not to go even paler than she already was.  Being a witchdoctor, she didn’t mind _friendly_ spirits; however, when faced with enemy ghosts, she reacted like anyone else. 

“I guess I should head up to the deck, see if there’s anything Hannah needs me to do,” Destiny murmured, climbing to her feet.  Mormo and Bonnie followed her out onto the deck.  She hadn’t been counting on sunlight by any stretch of the imagination when she emerged, but then again, she hadn’t expected the all-consuming darkness and claustrophobic walls, either.  “Hannah, how can you see anything in here?” she called in the direction of the stern, where she knew Hannah would be standing at the wheel. 

“Simple night-vision spell!” Hannah’s voice called back.  “I figured I might need it, so I stopped on a Windlane outside to cast it!” 

Destiny had to hand it to her: the girl was much cleverer than she with her turmoil of daydreams and irrationality.  “Good idea, thanks!” 

Gripping her staff tightly with both hands, Destiny brought the magical weapon close to her chest.  Closing her eyes, she embraced the dark crevices of her imagination, reaching out and touching the deepest fears and secrets of her very soul, weaving them into an illusionary cloak and wrapping it around herself.  She began to chant under her breath, keeping her mind empty of everything but the darkness of her heart.  As the final word escaped her lips, she opened her blue eyes once more.  Lo and behold, she could see clearly!  Which was just as well, as they had pulled up alongside the wreckage of the _Marie Celestia_ ; she could see the faded golden letters on the starboard bow of the ghost ship. 

“Ready to go, Destiny?” Hannah questioned as she strode up beside her new friend. 

“Yep,” Destiny replied as she released her staff from her left hand, holding it only in her right once more.  “Are you sure it’s a good idea to have just the two of us go in there?” 

Hannah raised an eyebrow at her.  “This was _your_ idea, Destiny, not mine.”  The air between the two began to crackle with tension.  Thankfully, Mormo chose that moment to walk (or maybe _waddle_ would be a better word) up between them from belowdecks, preventing the imminent shouting match.  It was really rather adorable. 

“Mormo has consumed a night-vision potion, and has one to spare,” the water-mole suggested helpfully. 

“Well, that settles things then.”  Hannah smiled calmly, her composure instantly regained.  “Bonnie, if you’d like, you can drink the other potion and come with us.” 

“I’d love to, Captain,” the fox musketeer replied.  Mormo pressed the spare into her hand.  Within seconds, the small glass bottle had been drained of its contents. 

“Well then, let’s go,” Hannah said, and with that, the four companions began to make their way over to the deck of the _Marie_ _Celestia_ _._   

* * *

The moment their feet touched the deck, trouble appeared.  Literally.  Ghosts of various shapes and sizes materialized from thin air, growling and brandishing their weapons at the boarding party.  However, they all had one thing in common: they were all wharf rats. 

“Let’s go,” Hannah said firmly, slipping her hand into a hidden pocket.  When she withdrew that hand, she held a handful of small, wooden, T-shaped totems.  A flick of her wrist sent them flying into a circle formation around her, somehow planting themselves into the rotting boards of the deck.  An ancient rune appeared on the ground, glowing green, as she began to chant in another language.  Destiny watched in rapt fascination, though she also knew how to perform the spell.  Hannah raised her staff high about her head as she continued to chant, passing it over into her hand.  Bringing the staff close to her chest, she held it with both hands, bowing her head, as her chanting grew louder.  Suddenly, her head snapped up again as she thrust her staff out towards her target.  “Ghostwail!” 

Destiny turned her head to look at Hannah’s target, briefly wondering if a spiritual attack would be effective on a ghost.  The answer became apparent as the summoned spooky entities swirled around the target, just as they would a living opponent, causing the unfortunate ghost rat to recoil and place a hand on its chest, panting even though it didn’t need to breathe. 

Not to be outdone (and before the ghosts had a chance to advance), Destiny began to cast a spell called Mojo Strike; while not as crippling as Ghostwail, it would affect multiple enemies, making it arguably more useful.  Holding her staff with both hands, she began to channel her strength and energy into the weapon.  As soon as she’d channeled as much as she could, the threw the staff into the air, jumping after it.  Snagging it in one hand, she made a slashing motion at her primary target, the rat Hannah had hit only moments before.  “Mojo Strike!” 

A bolt of purple magic came crashing down upon her target, killing him again (for good this time) and injuring the ghosts near him.  Mormo waddled forward with his staff at the ready but was intercepted by a rat before he had a chance to cast his spell; he was forced to dodge left and right as the rat’s ghostly blade whistled past him.  While this was happening, Bonnie Anne loaded her rifle with a glittering powder Destiny recognized as Scatterblast Spark Powder.  She mounted the rifle on her shoulder, pointing it towards their foes, and pulled the trigger.  _Bam!_ Forked lightning shot from the gun, fanning out in a cone shape and hitting many of their enemies before losing its charge and dissipating.  The rats were thrown off balance and looked very confused. 

This didn’t last long.  Before Destiny’s friends had the chance to do anything else, the rats attacked.  A thin, lanky rat bounded up to Destiny, raising its transparent sword and slashing forward.  Destiny raised her staff to block the attack, leaning back a little and stepping back with her left foot… 

… straight into a hole she hadn’t noticed.  Her eyes widened as she toppled backwards.  The last thing she heard was Hannah yelling (or maybe screaming was more accurate) her name, before she was consumed by the darkness. 

* * *

 _Where am I?  Am I dead?_  

The answer soon presented itself as she tried to sit up.  Her aching limbs groaned in protest, sending a jolt of pain throughout her body as punishment.  _Ouch.  Okay, I’m clearly still alive; just at the bottom of a hole, and rather banged up._  

She closed her eyes, pondering how to get out of this sticky situation.  She was also partially wondering why it was always _she_ who got into these types of problems. 

“Hey, ye okay?” 

Destiny’s eyes snapped open, and she found a spiritual wharf rat standing over her.  Her blue eyes widened, and she scrambled backward, despite the screaming pain from her body, reaching for her staff. 

“Whoa there!” exclaimed the rat.  “Calm down; I’m not going to hurt ye.  In fact, I can help ye… yer looking for a legendary pirate known as the Storm Captain, as a favor to a friend, am I right or am I right?” 

“Um… you’re right,” Destiny admitted, blushing.  “How did you know?” 

“It’s a secret.”  The ghost winked.  “However, I have a unicorn friend who might be able to help ye out… he lives in a place called Triestia.  Head there, and ye will be put on the trail of yer friend’s friend.” 

“Wow, thanks,” Destiny said, somewhat surprised. 

The ghost winked again.  “Any time.”  And with that, he vanished. 

“Destiny?”  Hannah’s voice drifted down the chasm. 

“Hannah!” cried Destiny, somehow managing to leap to her feet, despite her body’s protests.  “Hannah, get me out of here, quick!  I’ve got something to tell you!” 

A rope was thrown down to her, and after a few awkward minutes of trying to get a good grip on the fibers, Destiny was lying in the cabin of the _Bronze Garnet,_ while Mormo worked on some sort of pain reduction potion.  Hannah leaned against the doorframe, curiosity written all over her face.  “What did you need to tell me, Destiny?” 

“I just thought of someone who might be able to help us find Holly,” Destiny lied, a pang of guilt hitting her.  “He lives in a place called Triestia.” 

Hannah’s expression changed to one of shock.  “What?  Are you serious?  But why didn’t you tell me before?”  Destiny nodded, dodging the second question, and Hannah’s eyes widened even farther.  “I can’t believe it!  But… where’s Triestia?” 

“I don’t remember,” Destiny replied, shifting uncomfortably as something Marissa had once said filtered into her mind.  _“Ever so honest, ever so blunt.  That’s one of the things I like about you, Destiny.”_ She mentally shook herself.  “However, I know someone who’ll probably know.” 

“Who?” asked Hannah before Destiny had completely finished her sentence. 

“Honest Valeria Holystone,” Destiny responded.  “She’s a young swashbuckler, only a year older than me, but despite that, she knows a lot about Spiral geography — she’ll know where Triestia is.” 

“Where does she live?” 

“In a small house, just off Avery’s Court.  You can tell her from her younger identical twin, Harmony, because she dresses in dark blue trimmed with black, while Harmony dresses in red trimmed with light blue.” 

“I’ll remember,” Hannah promised, walking out onto the deck in a surprisingly calm manner.  Destiny smiled as she shut her eyes and lay back down, glad to be of assistance. 

* * *

“This is the place?” 

“Yep,” Destiny said with a nod, her hand hovering over the wooden door, getting ready to knock.  “Also, just so you know, while Harmony loves to meet new people, Valeria isn’t a friendly sort unless you know her very well.  Best to let me do most of the talking.”  As soon as Hannah nodded her acknowledgement, she rapped the door lightly with her knuckles. 

It was a full minute before the door opened, and there stood none other than Harmony Holystone.  Her ever-present smile grew when she saw it was one of her best friends, _and_ a new person.  “Hi, Des!  Come on in; you and your guest can make yourselves comfortable.”  She opened the door wider. 

As Destiny stepped into the living room/kitchen/everything-else-except-the-bathroom-and-bedroom (the Holystone house was quite small), her eyes immediately fell upon the elder of the twins, who was currently slumped on a couch, her eyes glued to a thick, leather-bound book with fading golden letters and crinkly yellow pages.  “Hey, Vale,” Destiny called, flopping onto another couch.  “What are you reading?” 

 _“A Swashbuckler’s Guide to the Spiral_ by Sandy Suri,” the brunette replied swiftly, turning a page with delicate, careful fingers.  “Is there something I can help you with, Destiny?” 

“Yeah, actually,” the witchdoctor replied, tucking her knees into her chest.  “We were wondering if you knew where Triestia was.”  She stuttered a bit on the pronunciation of the unfamiliar word. 

“Triestia?” Valeria asked in surprise, looking up; the foreign name rolled smoothly off her tongue.  “Why, that’s in Valencia.  I thought everyone knew that!” 

“I didn’t know that, sis,” interjected Harmony from where she was cheerfully conversing with (or more accurately, _talking at_ ) Hannah; the other girl couldn’t get a word in edgewise as the red-clad buccaneer prattled on.  “Hey, Des, Hannah here just told me you’re looking for Rissy, and the Storm Captain.” 

Destiny smiled at the twin’s nickname for Marissa.  “That’s right, Harmony; we’re casting off for Valencia soon.” 

“Then can you take me with you?”  As she spoke, Harmony looked incredibly like a lost kitten.  Destiny wasn’t sure how she could pull off such a look, but she did, and it was enough to make Destiny give in.  “Oh, all right,” she agreed with a dramatic sigh.  “Just know that I claim no responsibility if you get hurt, or captured, or killed.” 

“Thanks, Des!  You’re the best!” the older (yet smaller) girl exclaimed, running over and hugging her friend fiercely. 

Destiny awkwardly petted Harmony’s spiky brown hair with her fingers.  “Any time, Harmony.”  A thought occurred to her and she turned to Valeria.  “Valeria, do you have…” 

“Sorry, nope, never been there, thus I don’t have a Windstone,” the swashbuckler replied, anticipating the question. 

“It’s fine, Destiny; I know someone who’ll most likely have one.”  Hannah smiled.  “Hazel Ashburn; she lives in Port Regal, which is—” 

“—Just past the Tradewinds Skyway,” Destiny finished for her.  “I know a thing or two about the Skull Island Skyways, even if I don’t like them.  It’s a side effect of being friends with Valeria.” 

“I take offense to that,” Valeria protested, but she was smiling. 

* * *

“So, this is where Hazel lives?” 

“Yes," Hannah replied, causing Destiny to give a low whistle of appreciation as she scanned the rather large Marleybonian house before her, despite having lived in an even grander mansion when she had still lived in Marleybone herself.  It made the Holystone house look tiny by comparison.  “Oh, and one other thing — when you meet Hazel, _don’t_ comment on her size, or you’ll regret it.” 

This piece of advice only served to confuse Destiny, but she nodded and smiled.  “All right, got it.” 

Hannah knocked on the door of the house.  A short time later, the door opened to reveal an _incredibly_ small girl (she was shorter than Harmony by a lot, and that was saying something) with fiery red hair tied back in a ponytail.  Realizing what Hannah had meant earlier, she quickly bit down on her tongue to prevent herself from voicing her immediate thoughts, wincing as she drew blood. 

“Hello, Hannah,” Hazel greeted, turning her dark-eyed gaze on Destiny.  “Who’s your friend?” 

“I’m Destiny,” the purple-and-black-clad witchdoctor introduced herself, holding out her hand. 

“Nice to meet you, Destiny,” Hazel replied, reaching up to shake the proffered hand.  Addressing both of them, she asked, “Would you like to come in?”  She stepped back from the door. 

The pair stepped inside, and Destiny found herself in a comfortably furnished room.  She smiled her approval. 

“So, been working on any cool new things lately, Hazel?” Hannah asked. 

“Actually, yes,” Hazel replied, her eyes clouding over as she became lost in the world of her inventions.  “I was working on a prototype pair of mechanical wings just before you arrived, based on the design of a battle angel I managed to bring down…”  She happily chattered on about said pair of wings, and Destiny’s own smile grew as she listened to the girl.  Eventually, Hannah interrupted. 

“Getting to the point, we were wondering if you have a Valencian Windstone… do you?” 

“If you mean an indigo Windstone, then yes,” the redhead replied.  “Just a moment…”  She vanished into one of the many rooms, returning with a deep bluish-purple Windstone. 

“Thanks, Hazel!” Destiny exclaimed fervently.  “We owe you one.”  A thought occurred to her.  “Hey, Hazel, would you like to come along with us to Valencia?” 

“Are you kidding me?!” Hazel cried out.  “I wouldn’t miss this if you gave me command over the entire Spiral!  Well, maybe if you _actually_ gave me the Spiral… but only then!” 

Destiny chuckled.  “All right then.  Welcome to the team, Hazel.”  There was a brief pause.  “Now, with the Windstone in our hands, we can venture forth to the grand world of adventure known as Valencia!” she declared dramatically; everyone proceeded to groan in such perfect synchronization it was almost creepy.  Destiny grinned sheepishly.  “Um… let’s go to Valencia?”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was written by Night.

“Cup it in your hands like this, blow on the top, then raise it high above your head.  When it starts to glow, sail into the Stormgate, but not before!”  Hazel demonstrated what she meant using the remains of the bagel she had been eating.  “Got that?” 

Hannah nodded and repeated back what her friend had told her.  “Did I get that all right?” she asked hopefully. 

Hazel nodded.  “Are you ready to try it for real?” 

“You bet!”  Hannah glanced around, dug into her pack, then realized what she was looking for wasn’t there.  “I’m going to need that, Haze,” she said, trying to smother a giggle. 

“What, my breakfast?”  Hazel seemed confused as she looked at her half-eaten bagel. 

At that, Hannah didn’t even _attempt_ to hold back her laughter.  “No, silly, the Windstone!” 

“Oh, right.”  Hazel’s pale face flushed the approximate color of a sunset as she handed Hannah the Windstone. 

Hannah accepted the stone and focused her vision on the horizon, where the whirling Stormgate was fast approaching; already she could feel the breeze from the Spiral thread it connected to.  She cupped the Windstone in her hands and blew gently on the top, raising it high above her head.  At first, nothing seemed to happen, but as they drew closer to the Stormgate, it began to grow cold in her hands, and just as Hannah was preparing to turn the ship away from the gate lest she enter preemptively, from the indigo stone came a glow so fierce, she was forced to avert her eyes; it was like a miniature sun.  Without further ado, she sailed the ship into the gate and was immediately incapacitated with a powerful, inexplicable sense of vertigo. 

Hannah’s vision went completely black, and she felt like she was falling; the vertigo strengthened.  Then, just as suddenly as it had come on, the unpleasant sensation vanished.  Her sight returned, and the young witchdoctor could not hold back a gasp at what she saw.  The sky around her (if it could even truly be called _sky_ ) was black, but what appeared to be thick, multicolored mist swirled around the ship and outlined a Windlane-like path in front of them.  It glowed with vivid blues and purples, and it rippled and whirled almost as though it was alive.  Beyond the unearthly mist, the black sky was dotted with a thousand stars. 

Hannah mentally shook herself, closed her mouth (for her jaw had dropped open and had been standing agape), and took hold of her captain’s wheel.  However, as it turned out, there was no need; a mysterious, powerful wind carried them smoothly along the misty pathway.  As they progressed along it at a tremendous speed, Hannah began to see something in the distance, like an enormous golden bubble.  It was not long before she could see strange, unfamiliar shapes within it that made her feel a sense of foreboding.  “What’s that?” she asked Hazel, referring to the bubble. 

“That,” Hazel explained, “is Valencia.  Be on guard; the Armada’s headquarters is there, and they don’t take kindly to pirates.” 

As they drew closer, Hannah was able to make out a distinctive shape; it reminded her of the Armada fortress that Holly had destroyed, except this fortress was the size of a world!  “Please tell me we’re not going there,” Hannah muttered, suddenly (and rationally) terrified. 

Hazel shook her head.  “Going there without several armies backing us would mean instant death.  No, we’re going to an island.  Triestia isn’t owned by the Armada, but neither is it a particularly nice place — the Armada destroyed the town there, then found the island not to their liking, so they just left it abandoned.  So far as I know, nobody and nothing lives there.” 

Hannah was confused.  “Why, then, would there be a unicorn there who could lead us to Holly?” 

Hazel shrugged.  “You’ll have to ask Destiny; she’s the one who knew about him.” 

“Perhaps not right now, though,” Hannah said with a wry smile. 

Hazel was confused.  “Why not now?” 

“Destiny gets terrible skysickness; she won’t want to come up on deck, and she _definitely_ won’t want to be bothered.”  Hannah refocused her attention on flying, not wanting to go into the subject of Destiny, especially since she was now unsure whether her friend’s advice was even sound. 

At that moment, Destiny’s young buccaneer friend (Harmony, Hannah remembered her name was) climbed up onto the deck.  “Are we getting close?” she asked eagerly. 

“Yes,” Hannah said, keeping her sight focused on the ever-growing golden bubble that held Valencia.  “Be on guard; we’re entering Armada territory.” 

“Okay!” Harmony agreed, her enthusiasm undiminished.  “This is so exciting — we’re searching for real legends!  I can’t believe you know the Storm Captain!  I’ve heard Vale tell stories about her — apparently she’s the meanest, fiercest, most strategically brilliant swashbuckler in the whole Spiral!  I don’t know if that’s true, but she sounds so cool!  Is she always mean and fierce?” 

Hannah shook her head.  “Only to her enemies.  She’s still stormy and a little unpredictable with Hazel and I, and her younger brother Galen, but overall she’s pretty fun to be around, and she’s so loyal — she proved that when she made us flee the Armada fortress instead of staying to help her destroy it.” 

Hazel took up the story.  “We were in the engine room, surrounded by myriad Armada soldiers.  I made the mistake of telling Holly how to—” 

Harmony interrupted.  “Who’s Holly?” 

Hannah sighed in exasperation.  “Holly is the real name of the Storm Captain.” 

Hazel cleared her throat.  “ _If_ I may continue?”  Hannah rolled her eyes and gestured for her friend to go on.  “Thank you.  Anyway, I made the mistake of telling Holly how to force the engine to work against itself and blow itself up, rather than staying to do it myself.  If I had stayed, perhaps none of this would have happened…” 

“Or you would have been blown up yourself!” Hannah retorted.  “Don’t tear yourself up about it, especially since Holly is alive.  Just go on with the story.” 

“So, anyway, we were surrounded: me, Hannah, Holly, our friend Haley, and a few of our most trusted companions.  The Armada troops were closing in, I caught sight of battle angels overhead — the Armada’s elite.  I didn’t know how any of us would survive, but apparently Holly did.  She shouted to us to fight our way out — said it didn’t matter if she survived, so long as she could take the fortress with her, and that if the rest of us fought our way out, it would provide just the needed distraction for her to rig the engine.” 

Hannah jumped in.  “I asked her, ‘But what about you?’  She simply winked and said, ‘I’ll see you on the other side.’  We all knew then that she planned to sacrifice herself for our sakes.  None of us wanted to let her — indeed, Haley tried to drag her with us — but she said, ‘This is what I must do.  Surely it’s worth a single life to cripple the Armada?’” 

At that moment, Bonnie Anne came up from below and approached to see what they were talking about; when she heard the story they were telling, she jumped in with her own part.  “I argued, ‘Not your life, Captain!’  But she was cleverer than me, I fear.  She threw one of her knives into the crowd of Armada soldiers, provoking them and forcing us to fight back against their anger.  We had no choice but to fight our way out, and Captain Holly refused to come with us.  Instead she remained there, working on sabotaging the engine.” 

Hannah nodded sadly.  “I tried to cast a spell that would force her to come with us, but by that point the Armada had closed between us and her, blocking her way; there was no way even a spell could take her through that.” 

Even though she now knew her friend was alive, a sob escaped Hazel as she took up the story once again.  “I was the last to escape.  As we left, I heard Holly shouting one last time, ‘Go!’  I could hear her voice shake, and I almost returned to save her that instant.  I wish I had.  As it was, we fled as quickly as we could and piled onto the _Bronze Garnet_ — we had to leave Holly’s _Jade Phoenix_ and my _Paladin_ — Hannah has always been the best sailor of our friend group.” 

Bonnie Anne advanced the story once more.  “We barely escaped with our lives.  As we flew away, the most tremendous explosion I had ever seen blossomed from within the fortress, expanding so hot, bright, and fast, I was sure it was going to catch us.  Looking at it, I thought, _There’s no way she made it out of there alive._ Haley wasn’t so sure, though — she said then and has insisted since that she saw a lifeboat soaring away, and she was sure Holly was in it.” 

Hazel smiled ruefully.  “I always dismissed her suggestion — it was too painful to get my hopes up.  Now, though, I guess she was right all along.” 

Harmony’s eyes were wide.  “Wow… your friend was so brave!  How did she escape the Armada soldiers, though?” 

“We won’t be able to find that out until we find Holly, wherever she is,” Hannah said. 

Suddenly, Hazel’s eyes widened.  “Hannah, the Windstone, quick!  We can’t leave the Stormgate without it!” 

“Oh!” Hannah exclaimed, repeating the procedure that had gotten them into the Stormgate.  The same mysterious sense of vertigo came over her once more, and her vision went black. 

* * *

When Hannah regained her senses, she found that she was in a very different place from any she was familiar with.  The sky was dark, but not _night_ dark — more like _murky, polluted_ dark.  Instead of clear sky below the ship, there was a thick layer of poisonous-looking greenish clouds; Hannah hoped that nobody would fall overboard.  Another thing about the Skyway (Aragon Skyway, she remembered it was called) that didn’t appeal to her was the multitude of Armada ships patrolling the air.  Even as she watched, a large mechanical ship with the name _The Vengeance_ painted on the side in forbidding black letters turned toward her own ship; it was bristling with cannons and other, less recognizable weaponry, with every armament pointed at the _Bronze Garnet._  

“Time to go,” Hannah muttered between clenched teeth.  She pulled a lever that ignited the booster rockets attached to the back of the ship — an addition Hazel had made months ago but she had never gotten to try out.  Now she was disappointed that she hadn’t; the sensation of zipping through the skies so fast that her surroundings blurred into greenish-grey blobs was wonderfully exhilarating. 

“Which way to Triestia?” Hannah shouted over the gale of their passage. 

“About thirty degrees to port, then if you keep this speed up, maybe three minutes straight ahead — you’ll see it!”  Hazel was also forced to shout to be heard. 

“Got it!”  Hannah spun the captain’s wheel to the left until the ship was pointed in the direction Hazel had suggested; all that was left was to rocket on to the island of Triestia. 

Hazel was right — at that speed, it wasn’t long at all before a desolate island came into view.  As they approached, Hannah flipped the lever up, and the ship returned to a more natural speed.  When they grew close enough to dock on the ruined pier still barely attached to the island, she called, “Anchors aweigh!”  She heard the distinctive sound of the chain rattling over the deck’s railing and down below the ship; the _Bronze Garnet_ wouldn’t be going anywhere now. 

“Harmony, could you go get Destiny from below?” Hannah requesed. 

“Aye aye, Captain!” Harmony said with a grin, dashing belowdecks.  Shortly thereafter, she returned with a rather green-looking Destiny in tow.  Destiny coughed and retched over the side of the ship. 

“All right, everyone ready?” Hannah asked.  The three other girls nodded; Harmony looked excited, Hazel seemed wary, and Destiny just looked like she wanted to get off the ship at all costs. 

Hannah led the group off the ship.  “So, where does this unicorn of yours live, Destiny?” she inquired, looking around at the rubble that was all that remained of the dwellings of Triestia. 

“Probably that house up there,” Destiny suggested, pointing to an intact (if rather desolate-looking) house that stood farther up the road.  Indeed, it was the only intact house. 

“I guess that’s as good a shot as any,” Hazel said, though she still didn’t sound sure. 

Some of Harmony’s enthusiasm had faded, and she was constantly glancing around.  “I don’t like this place,” she declared, a slight quiver in her voice.  “Can we just find this unicorn and get out of here?” 

“That’s what I’m hoping for,” Hazel muttered. 

They reached the house.  Hannah knocked sharply on the door with her fist.  When nobody answered, she banged on the door with her staff, and when that didn’t elicit a reaction either, she shook the doorknob.  To her surprise, she found it unlocked, so she dragged it open.  The four of them stepped cautiously inside. 

“I really, _really_ don’t like this,” Harmony said nervously. 

“It’ll be fine,” Destiny assured her, but even she didn’t sound certain. 

“Destiny,” Hannah began, but before she could ask the question that had been nagging at her there came a mechanical voice from the top of a nearby staircase. 

“Welcome, pirates,” it said.  Four heads snapped up to see who or what had spoken: an Armada Clockwork. 

The door banged shut behind them, and more Armada troops flooded the room. 

All Hannah could do was stand and stare.  “What have you led us into, Destiny?” she demanded.  “You should have known your ‘unicorn friend’ would be a house full of Clockworks!  Or did you lead us into this trap on purpose?” 

Destiny shifted uncomfortably.  “Um, actually…”  She paused. 

“Spit it out!” Hazel growled, a murderous look entering her dark eyes. 

“I don’t actually know a unicorn here,” Destiny said in a rush.  “While I was in that pit, a ghost rat told me about a unicorn who could help me on Triestia.” 

“Destiny, you didn’t!”  Hannah was horrified.  “Why didn’t you tell me it was a rat?” 

“I didn’t think it mattered!” 

“Didn’t think it mattered?  _Didn’t think it mattered?”_ Hannah’s voice rose to a roar.  “You of all pirates should know that rats should never, _ever_ be trusted!  And yet you tricked me into coming here on the advice of a rat who was more than likely in the employ of the Armada!  And now look at the mess we’re in!” 

“I’m sorry, okay?  I thought he was actually trying to help!” 

Hazel interrupted.  “Would you two stop arguing for five seconds and take a look at the situation?” 

“I’m looking at it now, and I’m seeing that Destiny got us into trouble!”  Hannah continued to glare at her friend. 

Harmony gave it a try.  “We’re in a room full of Armada troops, yet you two choose to fight each other instead?”  Both Hannah and Destiny swiveled around to look at her.  “Hello?  Earth to witchdoctors?  We have _real enemies_ here.  I suggest the two of you save this dispute for later, and focus on getting rid of the Clockworks now.” 

“Ha!” said the first Clockwork in its odd, mechanical voice.  “You cannot get rid of us.  You cannot defeat us.  You will be destroyed.  Armada, attack!” 

The four immediately snapped into action, Hannah’s and Destiny’s argument temporarily vanishing from their minds as they focused on the threat at hand.  Hannah raised her staff high into the air, then whipped it forward in the direction of a Clockwork.  Lightning flew from the end of it, immediately shorting out the unfortunate Armada marine.  However, two more replaced it, slashing at her with their halberds.  She desperately blocked their attacks on her staff, but they were overwhelming her.  A spark round from an Armada fusilier clipped her in the shoulder, and she staggered back, trying to maintain consciousness as the Armada wore her down. 

Nearby, she heard Destiny chanting desperately, but she too was being gradually overwhelmed.  Hazel had somehow managed to entangle her feet in the chandelier and was hanging down, picking off Armada troops from above.  She was faring better than the witchdoctors, but Armada fusiliers were bombarding her with shots, forcing her to swing crazily to avoid being hit.  Harmony was nowhere to be seen. 

Suddenly, a spear appeared in front of Hannah, hanging straight down in front of her.  “Grab on!” hissed a voice above her, and she looked up, amazed, to see Harmony in the rafters, holding her spear down in front of Hannah.  Bemused but relieved, Hannah grabbed on, and Harmony yanked her up.  Hannah was startled at the girl’s strength, but then she recalled just how strong buccaneers could be.  She perched among the rafters and watched as Harmony repeated the process, dragging Destiny up as well. 

A Clockwork glared up at them.  “You will not find your traitorous friend,” it declared.  “Even if she escaped the blast when she destroyed our fortress, the explosion blew her from there to Monquista.  She could not survive — and you will not survive our wrath!” 

Hazel swung up to join the other three.  “If I know Holly, she probably _did_ survive — I bet we’ll find her in Monquista!” 

“Wonderful!” Hannah exclaimed.  “Which means, even if that rat wanted to lead us into a trap, we still have a lead!” 

“We still need to escape,” Destiny pointed out. 

“Easier done than said,” Hazel said with a smile. 

“Don’t you mean _easier said than done?_ ” Harmony asked, sounding confused. 

“Of course not.”  Hazel smirked and shot the ceiling above them about twenty times, forming a circle of holes.  “Punch the middle of that for me, would you, Harmony?” 

“I don’t see why… ohhh!  With pleasure.” The young buccaneer whacked between the bullet holes and the circle of ceiling went flying, leaving a new skylight through which the four girls climbed to escape the shots still being fired at them.  Hazel was the last through, and after she climbed onto the roof, she tossed something into the new gap. 

“What was that?” Hannah asked. 

“Bomb,” Hazel replied.  “Now, jump!” 

The pirates needed no more encouragement, and leaped off the roof together.  They hit the ground running and bolted toward the ship, not looking behind them.  As they boarded the _Bronze Garnet_ and Harmony hoisted the anchor, they heard a resounding _boom._  

Hannah grinned.  “I know only one person who could escape an explosion like that, and she’s no Clockwork.  Let’s fly!”  They cast off, soaring at top speed back toward the Stormgate.  “Next stop: Monquista!”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was written by me.

Despite the fact something good had come from the whole fiasco in Valencia, Destiny and Hannah’s friendship had been awkward and touchy over the next few days. Eventually, however, Harmony’s attempts to force them to talk to each other _calmly_ and _rationally_ and as if the whole incident had _never happened_ (with some help from Hazel) paid off, and the cracks in their friendship began to mend. It wasn’t perfect by any means, but it was definitely better than having the two silently at each other’s throats. 

The group had decided to return to Skull Island for the night, but Destiny couldn’t sleep.  Instead, she decided to make the long trek up to the Skull Cave, where she found a crevasse in the wall that looked promising.  With some careful wriggling, she managed to force herself through, revealing another, smaller cavern beyond the narrow gap. She slid down the smooth stone wall, tucking her knees into her chest.  Soft tears trickled down her cheeks.  She felt a light tingling similar to the effects of a search spell, but dismissed it as her imagination. 

“Everything at Valencia was my fault…we’re lucky Harmony was with us,” whispered Destiny to herself. 

 Her thoughts continued along this track for quite a while, before she heard soft footsteps, followed by a grunt of annoyance as whoever was there squeezed through the crack.  After several moments of this, a familiar, mellow voice spoke. 

“Destiny, we need to talk.” 

 Destiny raised a hand, trying to wipe away her tears.  “H-Hannah… do you h-hate me?” 

There was a brief pause, and then her fellow witchdoctor responded.  “No. I thought I did before, but I could never hate you."  As Hannah spoke, her voice level and reassuring, Destiny's ragged breath began to even out, her gentle sobs receding.  "Your confident and cheerful attitude is one of our driving forces.  Besides, your heart is in the right place, and you mean well. That is your greatest strength.”  Destiny still didn’t say anything, so Hannah continued. “Destiny, even though we've only known each other for a few days, you're one of the best friends I could ask for.  Just…don’t lie to me, okay?  Promise?” 

Destiny fought against her renewed desire to cry, but lost to it, tears once again flowing in steady streams down her face.  “I promise," she choked out between sobs.  "I’m so sorry, Hannah.  I’m so _sorry.”_  

“It’s fine,” soothed Hannah quietly. “No harm was done, and we're a step closer to finding our friends.  Everything will be okay.” 

Destiny continued to whimper softly despite Hannah's reassurances, and only when the sun was beginning to rise did the pair finally leave the Skull Cave.  

* * *

To put it simply, Dashing Destiny Donnely did _not_ want to get up. 

Sadly for her, she did not have a choice in the matter — Harmony made sure of that. 

“Come on, Des, get up!” 

 Destiny moaned pitifully, rolling over onto her other side. “Go away, Harmony.” 

“Come on lazybones!" said Harmony in her annoying, _annoying_ singsong voice.  (Well, it was annoying when Destiny actually wanted to sleep in for a change.)  "We’re going to be getting a violet Windstone today!  Do you want to find Rissy and the Storm Captain or not?” 

“Is this my fate? To be woken up early whenever I decide I want to take a nap?” muttered Destiny irritably, mostly to herself. 

Overhearing this, Harmony interjected, “I would’ve made a joke about your name there.” 

“Fate and destiny are two different things," the blonde grumbled into her pillow.  She would have launched into a description of their differences, but her pillow was so _comfy_... and she was so _tired_... 

“Valeria says they’re the same thing.” 

“I don’t care what Valeria says.” 

“Oh well,” chirruped Harmony. “It’s time to get up! We’re all waiting for you at my place, so come on!” 

Destiny’s reply was a flat “No.” 

This led to being dragged out of her room by Harmony, at which point Destiny gave up, trudging after the brunette, still muttering under her breath. When they arrived at the Holystone residence, Hazel and Hannah were talking quietly between themselves, and Valeria was intently studying the pages of a book — no surprise there. 

“Hey!” Harmony greeted as she pushed open the door. “I managed to bring Destiny back from the land where all is rainbows and sparkles.” Hazel and Hannah burst out laughing, and Destiny felt herself quirking a smile. It was impossible not to be amused by Harmony’s antics- unless you were Valeria. 

“I wish that world actually existed,” Destiny joked. “It would be a nice change from being awake.” 

Valeria, unsurprisingly, was the one to give them all a reality check. “It probably does exist, we’re just not aware of it. But we’re not here to talk about fantasy worlds. We’re here to talk about getting you four a violet Windstone.” 

“Take a joke, sis,” Harmony sighed, “take a joke.” 

“She’s right, though,” Hannah pointed out, “we really shouldn’t be wasting time.” 

None of them could argue with that logic. “So, how are we going about this?” Destiny queried. 

Valeria reached into her backpack, which was by the feet of her chair, and withdrew a small bundle of white cloth. She gave it to Hannah, who, after a small nod of permission, unwrapped it. Inside was a gleaming violet Windstone, but… 

“That’s only half of it.” Hazel voiced what Destiny had just realized. “Where’s the rest?” 

“Would a broken Windstone even work?” Hannah wondered. 

 “Yes.” They all looked at Harmony in surprise, not expecting her to know the answer. “Even if a Windstone is broken, as long as the pieces are close to each other, they should work just like a whole Windstone.” 

"Why?" Hannah asked curiously. 

Harmony shrugged.  "Some science-y reason with resonation and stuff that Vale made me look up when I broke this one." 

“So, all we have to do is find the other half?” Destiny asked. Valeria nodded. 

“That is correct. Luckily for you four, I know who possesses it. Have you heard of Dead-eye Deidre?” 

“I have,” Destiny contributed. “Isn’t she that wharf rat who can only see through her left eye?” 

“That’s right,” Valeria confirmed.  "She stole the other half, then fled — probably to the Skyways.” 

“Are you serious?” Destiny groaned. “What’s wrong with land?” 

“It had an argument with fate,” Harmony replied solemnly. The straight face she kept while delivering the line caused everyone to go into hysterics again. This time, Valeria joined in. 

* * *

Destiny tightly gripped the sides of the _Bronze Garnet,_ swaying as wave of nausea hit her. She would’ve opted to remain in the cabin if Harmony hadn’t insisted she stay above deck.  (“The only way to beat a fear or weakness is to confront it!")  Hannah had added in her own part, pointing out that she’d be needed above deck when the fighting started; Destiny couldn't argue with that point, so she reluctantly conceded. 

Hannah noticed how ill she looked.  “Don’t worry, Destiny,” she assured. “This will be quick, and then you’ll be back on solid ground.” 

“That’ll be nice,” Destiny rasped hoarsely. Feeling bile rise in her throat, she quickly clamped her mouth shut. 

It didn’t take them long to find Deidre’s ship, although it felt like forever to Destiny.  Hannah’s cry of, “We’re engaged in broadside combat!” certainly didn’t help matters. 

Immediately, Hazel and Harmony moved to more strategic positions on deck. Harmony beckoned to Destiny, who hurried over as fast as she could.

"Things are about to get rough,” she warned. “You need to be alert for anything.” 

Before Destiny could say anything, a loud boom filled the air, and the deck below them shook. A shriek of surprise and fear escaped from between Destiny’s lips. Harmony gave her a grim look. 

“That’s the least of your worries right now,” she said. “What you need to watch out for is—“ Harmony’s expression changed to one of alarm as she immediately pulled Destiny down. A blazing arrow soared over their heads, managing not to hit anything. “A visual aid. How lovely,” the buccaneer said sarcastically. 

 Destiny was feeling a great deal more ill now. Apprehension and sickness were creating a terrible mix in her stomach region. She would have given anything for this to be over. 

Ten minutes passed in this fashion, before Hannah decided that their enemy was weakened enough to board. The _Bronze Garnet_ pulled up beside _Deidre’s Delight,_ and boarding planks were quickly placed down. Destiny felt even sicker. She knew it was going to come down to this, but that did nothing to help her queasiness. 

“You’ll be fine,” Harmony assured her. “Just be brave.” 

Somehow, Destiny didn’t think that would help. “Yeah, okay,” she croaked. She glanced at the crew on board _Deidre’s Delight,_ and saw that many of them were nursing bruised or broken limbs, as well as bleeding cuts. Good. It would reduce the torture she had to endure. However, the enemy crew was blinded by rage, and would fight at the height of their remaining strength. 

Destiny wasn’t a big fan of the idea of adding injury to sickness, and she acted on that feeling. Her staff glowed a murky green for a few brief seconds. Nothing appeared to be happening. 

Suddenly, thick, fluorescent green vines shot up from the damaged deck, ensnaring several of the crew of Deidre’s Delight. Black thorns on the vines punctured into flesh. The ensnared rats fell to their knees, fighting to get the enfeebling plants off them. Their attempts were in vain, and one by one their bodies grew limp and motionless, eyes becoming empty obsidian pools of death. 

The thorns withdrew with a horrible slurping noise, and the ivy crept back underneath the deck. Harmony looked at her, bewildered.  “What did you do to them?”  

Destiny felt far too nauseous to answer, but mentally noted her question for later. 

Aside from Dead-eye Deidre, only two more rats stood, and they were seething with anger, a fact that did not escape Hazel and Hannah’s notice. A well-placed shot through the leg prevented one of the rats from going anywhere, while Hannah dispatched another with a crackling blast of dark energy. 

It was at this point Destiny found out her skysickness was more severe than she thought — a _lot_ more severe. Her vision began to blur, and she swayed as she was hit with a bout of overwhelming nausea. She did not see Dead-eye Deidre approach her until the strike was already at the point where she could not dodge it. 

All of a sudden, strong arms circled her midriff and pulled her out of Deirdre’s sword’s reach. “I gotcha,” Harmony’s voice murmured in her ear, although it had an oddly distorted quality to it. It barely processed in Destiny’s mind, as she gasped for air. The nausea was overpowering such simple bodily functions as breathing… 

With a final wheeze, she blacked out. 

* * *

 Destiny’s head pounded as she opened her eyes, blinking away the grit that had gathered there during her period of unconsciousness. Voices had been murmuring in the background as she awoke, but now they died away. Silence descended. 

“Destiny, are you okay?” A figure with blonde hair was crouched beside her. Destiny blinked again, and the blurry shape solidified into Hannah’s form. 

“Hannah…” she whispered, closing her eyes. “…I’m fine, I think. What happened?” 

“You blacked out.” Harmony’s voice filled the air. 

“What happened after that?” Destiny asked. “Did we get the Windstone half?” 

“Yes.” Hazel jumped in this time. “We did. But why didn’t you tell us your skysickess was that bad?” 

“I…didn’t know,” Destiny admitted, opening her eyes. “Otherwise I would have warned you.” 

“At least you’re okay now,” Hannah commented. 

“Yeah, true,” Destiny agreed. “But for now…we have the Windstone.” She smiled. “Now let’s head to Monquista.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was written by Night.

“I don’t think I’m ever going to get used to that,” Hannah declared as the Stormgate vertigo wore off. 

“Don’t be so sure,” Hazel admonished.  “I’ve never enjoyed the sensation of passing through a Stormgate, but I’ve been through enough times that at least it doesn’t bother me.” 

Hannah sighed.  “You might be right, but that doesn’t make the vertigo feel any nicer.” 

“The view of the Spiral thread more than makes up for it, though,” Hazel commented. 

Looking at what passed for the sky, Hannah couldn’t help but agree.  In this Stormgate, the mist was mostly violet, with wisps of vivid blue and gleaming white, and glimpses of stars in the far distance.  Closer to the ship were iridescent pale blue sky jellyfish rippling above and around the _Bronze Garnet._ One daring jelly wrapped its tendril-like tentacles around the top of the mast and clung there, seeming to stare, though eyeless, at the pirates on the deck below it. 

“You’ll want to get rid of that,” Hazel warned, indicating the jellyfish.  “It seems peaceful now, but those tentacles can be deadly.” 

“Right.  Take the wheel, will you?”  Not that the wheel needed manning while they were in the Stormgate, but Hannah wanted to be absolutely sure.  Pocketing the pieces of the violet Windstone, she began to climb the rigging to get to the jellyfish and try to chase it off. 

The jelly did not take kindly to being disturbed.  Detaching itself from the mast, it rippled its tentacles, and more jellyfish swarmed around Hannah.  Clinging to the ropes with one hand, Hannah yanked out her staff with the other hand and, summoning power from within herself until it crackled with green light at the end of the staff, whacked the first jellyfish with it, frying the unfortunate creature. 

This turned out to be a mistake.  As the ashes of their friend fell to the deck, the other jellyfish converged on Hannah.  Two of them wrapped their tentacles around her staff, yanking it out of her grasp.  The rest descended upon the dangling witchdoctor and, with great abandon, proceeded to tangle their charged tentacles around any part of her they could reach. 

The last thing Hannah felt as the shocks took their toll  was her grip on the rope slackening, then the breezy sensation of falling. 

* * *

“Is she bleeding?” 

“Is she _breathing?”_  

“Give her some space…” 

“Let me through!” 

“Mormo has healing potion.” 

“Wait until she wakes up.” 

“Is she even _going_ to wake up?” 

Hannah’s head ached; no, strike that — she felt as if she’d been stabbed everywhere at once, then been clubbed in the head with a frigate.  Which, in a way, she had.  Groaning, she opened her eyes to discover that she was lying in bed in her cabin with Hazel, Harmony, and Mormo standing over her. 

Hazel shushed everyone.  “Are you all right, Hannah?” 

Hannah groaned again.  “What happened?  We were in the Stormgate, and there were jellyfish, and I fell, and… my staff!  Did someone get my staff back?”  Hannah forced herself to breathe and try to calm down. 

Harmony seemed apprehensive.  “The jellies flew off with it, but that’s not the worst part.  Half of the Windstone fell out of your pocket, and one of them stole it.” 

_Breathe, Hannah._ “They can’t have gone far, can they?  We can catch up to them and get my staff and the stone back, right?” 

“Slow down, girl!” Hazel exclaimed.  “You took a really hard fall; you’re in no condition to go charging off after kleptomaniac jellyfish!” 

Hannah decided to look at the situation rationally; hastiness had never done her any good.  “Look, the jellyfish took half the Windstone, right?” 

“Yeah…” Harmony said uncertainly. 

“And we need that half of the stone to get out of the Stormgate, right?” 

Harmony’s eyes widened.  “We have to get it back!” 

Hannah sighed.  “That’s what I’ve been trying to say this whole time.” 

Hazel regarded Hannah critically.  “What Harmony means is that she and I will get it back; _you_ will stay here and recover.” 

Hannah opened her mouth to protest, but Mormo, who had been previously standing a short way back, waddled forward and repeated, “Mormo has healing potion.  Captain drinks potion, wounds all gone, Captain gets staff and stone back!” 

“Mormo, you brilliant water mole!”  Hannah surged up to give her cuddly crewmate a hug, then winced at a stab of fresh pain in her head. 

“Drink now.”  The water mole handed Hannah a vial of a deep blue liquid she recognized as healing potion.  Hannah downed the potion, savoring its cool, vaguely fruity flavor.  Within moments, the lingering pain of the shocks faded from her limbs, and the agony in her head diminished until it was completely, blissfully gone. 

Hannah turned to Hazel, who was standing with her mouth open.  “You were saying?” 

Hazel shook her head briefly and closed her mouth.  “Never mind.  Let’s just get that staff and stone back.” 

Hannah grinned. 

* * *

Fortunately, finding Hannah’s staff gave them very little cause for grief.  The cumbersome stick was proving troublesome for the two jellies who had stolen it, and none of their friends seemed willing to help them carry it.  They drifted near the mist lane, almost seeming to stumble in their flight as tried to carry the staff; it was a simple matter for Hannah to position the ship under them, grab her staff, and send a charge through it to detach the jellyfish. 

With her staff back in her hand, Hannah felt much less useless — and it was a good thing, too, because the jellyfish swarms (schools?  Gaggles?) were back in force, apparently upset at the injuries to their kin. 

Now that they weren’t worrying about Hannah, Hazel and Harmony seemed back to their old selves, which became especially evident as they launched themselves into battle against the jellies. 

“Kill them all if you have to, but get the stone back!” Hazel called from her vantage point, suspended from the rigging with her hands free to pick off the pseudo-fish from above.  Harmony let out a whoop of elation as she commenced bashing and stabbing with her spear, with great gusto. 

Hannah realized that the best way to defeat the jellyfish was to hit as many at once as possible, so she used the Mojo Strike spell as Destiny had aboard the _Marie_ _Celestia_ _._ The bolts of purple energy brought down several jellies, but Hannah quickly discovered that the spell took too long to cast effectively without being stung a few times in the casting, so she turned to a different approach, charging her staff as she had before and swinging it through the clouds of jellyfish. 

The next moment, two things happened at once.  The first was that Destiny clambered onto the deck, looking a little less green than usual, perhaps because they had been stationary with the anchor down for so long.  The second was that Hazel pointed and shouted, “That one!”  Hannah looked where Hazel was indicating just in time to see a jellyfish with its tentacles wrapped around the Windstone piece go soaring over the port side of the ship and out into the mist. 

“There’s no way we can follow that with the ship!” Harmony lamented, watching the jellyfish go.  “It’s moving much too fast!  We’d have to have wings!” 

Time seemed to stop as everyone slowly turned to stare at Hazel, who wore a wicked smirk.  “I’ll get them.”  Leaping from the rigging like an acrobat, the red-headed musketeer darted belowdecks, only to return half a minute later with two pairs of clockwork wings like those the Battle Angels used. 

“May I take a pair?” Hannah pleaded, enjoying the prospect of flight without a ship. 

“Certainly,” Hazel promised, helping Hannah put on the wings.  Hannah pulled on the control cords, causing the wings to flap, and she floated a few inches above the deck before drifting back down. 

“Beautiful,” she declared with a grin. 

“Destiny, want to take control of the other pair?” 

“I’m not so sure,” Destiny said apprehensively; indeed, she still looked rather sick. 

“Come on, you can do it!” Hazel encouraged.  “Look, the only danger of the wings is getting blown around a little bit, and that’s only a danger for someone my size; you’ll certainly be fine.  And if you do run into trouble, I’ll be right there with the ship.” 

Destiny still didn’t look certain, but Hazel would hear no arguments, and affixed the wings to the young witchdoctor’s back. 

“These are the control cords.”  Hazel handed Destiny a pair of cords with handles on the ends, much like the ones Hannah was holding.  “To flap, pull both of them.  To turn, pull the cord on the side of the direction you want to turn.  If you want to lock and glide, the ends of the handles have magnetic clamps.  It’s pretty simple; I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it very quickly.  Now, go catch me a jellyfish!” 

Hannah needed no further encouragement.  Pulling the control cords to flap the wings, she rose into the not-sky and leaned forward, flapping a few more times before locking the wings to glide in pursuit of the jellyfish.  To her surprise, she heard Destiny give a delighted shout behind her.  “Now _this_ is flying!” 

Moments later, Destiny had swooped ahead of Hannah.  The fifteen-year-old was forced to unlock her wings and flap furiously just to keep up with her frenzied friend.  It didn’t take long for them to catch up to the fleeing jelly as it soared through the mist.  The brash creature turned and brandished the few tentacles that it wasn’t using to hold the Windstone. 

“Hey!  That’s ours!” Hannah called, letting go of her right control cord just long enough to grab her staff; also, coincidentally, long enough to spiral completely out of control.  Her right wing fluttered uselessly, the control cord flapping way out of her reach, as she plunged downward toward the depths of the Spiral.  She saw Destiny, already high above her, flying and battling the jellyfish for the stone.  Instead of using her staff, Destiny was using the sharp edge of the metal wing to try and slice at the jelly’s tentacles.  Soon the creature had had enough, and it flung the stone toward Destiny and fled; she caught it between the handles of her control cords, then flipped it into a pocket. 

“Destiny!” Hannah called, trying to reach her own control cord.  She wasn’t sure Destiny had heard, but then the younger girl looked down.  Instantly she seemed to understand, and she pitched forward, locking her wings in a steep dive until she was level with Hannah.  Without letting go of her own control cord, she grabbed Hannah’s and tossed it back in front of her.  Gratefully, Hannah took hold of the handle and began to flap back up toward the ship. 

Destiny looked angry.  “Hazel needs to invent a way to control these while leaving us the use of our hands!” she declared. 

Hannah nodded, then voiced the question that had been on her mind.  “Where did you learn to fly so well?” 

A look of surprise crossed Destiny’s face.  “Honestly, I don’t know.  I’ve never liked flying in a ship, but this felt… I don’t know.  _Natural.”_  

“Well, I’m really glad it did!” Hannah exclaimed.  “If you hadn’t been able to fly like that, I’d be dead now!” 

“Well, you’re not, and that’s what matters,” Destiny declared.  “Let’s get that Windstone back to the others and get out of here.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was mostly written by me, but the end part was written by Night.

“So, this is Monquista,” Destiny mused, looking out at the Skyway, which was an aesthetically pleasing mixture of orange and tan.  “It’s a little… well, spread out, isn’t it?” 

“Yes, but it _is_ a different world,” Hazel reminded her.  “Some things are bound to be different.” 

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it,” she retorted.  That was true enough, and like it she certainly did not.  The more spaced out things were, the longer Skyway trips would take, which was not good news for her. 

“Hey, you two!”  Both Hazel and Destiny turned their heads as an unmistakable bubbly voice grabbed their attention.  “I just went and had a chat with Hannah,” Harmony informed them.  “She thinks we’ll be at the main city of Monquista soon.” 

“Good to know,” Destiny responded.  She paused, a brief wave of nausea passing over her.  “I’m feeling a little sick.  Let me know when we reach the city.”  With that, Destiny retreated to the cabin, but it wasn’t long before a soft _thud_ and the snapping of ropes on the main deck heralded their arrival at the island of Monquista City.  Stifling a retch, Destiny ascended the staircase 

“So, how are we going about this?” Destiny questioned.  “We can’t exactly go in asking about pirate legends — we’d give ourselves away.” 

“I thought about that,” Hannah replied.  “I was thinking one of us could go into some shops, pretending to be a MooShu noble, and innocently ask about dangers in the Skyways.  Maybe you’d like to do that, Destiny.” 

“It’s a good plan, but what if I’m found out and attacked?” Destiny questioned. She decided now was not the ideal time bring up the fact she technically was a noble, if of Marleybone, and had the credentials to prove it. “Nobles don’t generally carry weapons around.” 

“I’ll go with you, and act as your bodyguard,” Harmony volunteered.  “I don’t even need my spear to inflict damage, so it works out perfectly!” 

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Hazel said with a nod of approval, “but just to be on the safe side, how about using fake names?  Maybe Aurora and Sophia?" 

“I like it,” Destiny agreed. 

“All right, let’s put this plan into action,” Hannah announced.  “Good luck.” 

* * *

Destiny idly glanced over the various trinkets presented before her without really paying attention to them.  “Are any of these to your liking, miss?" 

”Oh, I don’t know,” Destiny replied in a vacant tone rather higher than her real voice.  “What do you think, Sophia?”  She glanced towards Harmony, secretly wondering how the monkey shopkeeper was buying the ploy — surely nobody was _really_ as airheaded as she was acting! 

“Don’t you have anything better?” Harmony demanded, her voice carefully serious.  “Lady Aurora deserves the best!” 

The shopkeeper turned back to his wares.  Destiny wondered what to do, but Harmony helped her out.  “Are there any dangers in the Skyways we should watch out for?” 

“Actually, yes,” the monkey replied.  “There’s a pirate hanging about, calling herself the Iron Dove. She calls herself a legend, but really, she’s a no-good, stuck-up, disrespectful…” he continued in this vein for a while.  “…cold-hearted ruffian!” 

“Oh my, she sounds very dangerous!”  Destiny was having trouble keeping her rage in check.  “Where does she fly her ship?" 

”Oh, all over, but she mostly protects the foul Opposition at their base on Zenda.” 

“Thank you, we’ll be sure to avoid her.”  Suddenly, Destiny struck out.  There wasn’t much power behind the blow, but the speed of the punch and the fact that she was about three times the monkey’s size more than made up for that.  The shopkeeper was flung across the room, his skull connecting with the wall.  He fell to the ground, unconscious. 

Harmony stared at her in amazement.  “What did you need me for again?” 

“Moral support, I suppose,” said Destiny in her normal voice, smirking.  “Let’s get back to the ship; the others need to hear this.” 

Suddenly, the shop door banged open.  “You there!  Come out where we can see you with your hands over your heads!” 

“What, us?” Destiny asked, once again using the fluttery voice. 

No fewer than six monkeys wearing full Monquistan battle armor and carrying swords and halberds stormed into the shop, identical looks of rage contorting their furry faces.  A seventh monkey with a ridiculous plume on his helmet and an equally funny-looking cloak strode in with a look of arrogant insolence on his face.  “You are under arrest for assaulting an innocent and consorting with known Opposition sympathizers!” he declared; it would have been intimidating had the top of his head come up past their thighs.  On the other hand, the sword which he now pointed at them looked plenty sharp, and as they watched, more monkeys flooded in behind him, all armed, armored, and angry. 

_“I don’t have my staff,”_ Destiny whispered desperately.  _“Can you take them?”_  

_“There’s too many of them!”_ Even in a whisper, the terror was evident in her tone. 

The caped and plumed monkey, who seemed to be the commander, cleared his throat.  “So… will you come quietly, or by force?” 

Destiny and Harmony exchanged a look of despair.  “Quietly,” said the two cornered pirates in unison. 

* * *

“Well, this is just great,” Harmony grumbled as the cell door slammed shut behind them.  Looking around, Destiny saw what her friend meant — the cell was quite small, with a hole in one corner, a tiny, barred window, and a stone bench that was, in fact, occupied. 

Destiny gave a start as the person lounging on the bench spoke.  “Tell me about it.”  She was another human teenager who looked to about Destiny's age — she looked about fourteen, but it was hard to tell — and appeared to have been bleached.  Her skin was deathly pale and chalky, her eyes were a light, rainy grey, and her hair was prematurely pure white.  As if that wasn’t enough, her tattered, piratish garb was also white — the only splashes of color on her whole body were her outfit’s faded orange trimmings. 

Destiny rediscovered how to speak first.  “Who are you?  My name’s Destiny, and this is Harmony.” 

“I don’t see why I should tell you,” the prisoner said dryly. 

“At least a name?” Harmony pleaded.  “It seems like we’re going to be stuck here for a while, and it’s not like we’ll be able to not interact.  Please?” 

“No.”  The stranger glared at Destiny and Harmony in turn.  “Just leave me alone, okay?” 

“We’ll have to call you something, though!” Harmony complained.  “Ooh, I know!  I’ll just call you George.  Hi, George!  How ya doing, George?  Tell me about the prison food, George!” 

She went on like that for a while.  Destiny noticed the prisoner’s facial expressions moving from surliness to annoyance and finally into rage.  “Enough!” she roared.  “My name’s Haley!  Now would you please just _shut up?!”_  

Harmony giggled.  “Well, that worked!” 

“You’re going to get yourself killed like that,” Destiny told her matter-of-factly, though she too was trying to stifle laughter. 

Haley glowered some more.  “And I thought my first five months in here were awful!” 

_Five months?_ Destiny thought in despair.  _But we need to be looking for Marissa now!_ With a sad sigh, she sank to the floor and allowed her mind to wander into more cheerful daydreams — it seemed she would be here for a while, with only Harmony’s ridiculous optimism and Haley’s surly sarcasm for company.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was written by Night.

Hannah paced anxiously back and forth across the top of the _Bronze Garnet_ ’s gunwale, holding her staff horizontal in front of her to keep her balance.  “They’re taking too long,” she complained, half to herself. 

Hazel, sitting on the deck nearby and tinkering with the mechanical wings, scowled.  “I think you’re right.  I bet something’s happened to them.”  In an instant, Hazel was on her feet, her rifle in her hands.  “I’ve never liked monkeys.” 

“Whoa, slow down!” Hannah exclaimed, hopping down onto the deck.  “If we rush in with weapons out, we’ll be imprisoned in an instant!  I think I might be able to contact Destiny, if you’ll help me out a little.” 

Hazel seemed to deflate a little.  “All right.  What do you need me to do?” 

“Just hum.” 

“Hum?” 

“That’s what I said.  Hum.” 

“Hum what?” 

“A note.” 

“Any note?” 

“Yes.  Just get on with it!” 

“Okay, okay!”  Hazel obliged, humming softly. 

“When I raise my hand, hum louder.  When I lower it, hum softer.  Nod if you understand.” 

Hazel nodded.  Hannah raised her hand a little and joined in, humming a fifth higher to form a perfect harmony.  With her other hand, she raised her staff, spinning it slowly until a soft blue glow surrounded the tip.  Hannah raised her free hand, and their humming grew louder.  As it did so, the glow grew brighter.  She spun her staff faster, summoning mentally the sound of Destiny’s voice, imagining it humming the third between her note and Hazel’s to form a minor chord.  This took immense concentration, and just as she thought she was going to run out of breath before she could get the spell to work, her staff started vibrating and spinning on its own.  There was a brilliant blue flash, and suddenly Hannah and Hazel were engulfed in a blue glow with the staff hovering between them, with Destiny’s voice issuing from it. 

“…got to be some sort of way out of here.” 

“Destiny!” Hazel exclaimed, looking surprised and delighted. 

There was a pause, then Hannah’s staff seemed again to speak with Destiny’s voice.  “What was that?”  A pause, and then: “No, I definitely heard something.” 

“You heard Hazel,” Hannah explained, a grin splitting her face.  “I finally got that tricky speaking spell to work.” 

“Hannah?  Is that you?” 

“Yes it is.  Where are you?” 

Some of the energy seemed to fade from Destiny’s voice.  “Monquistan prison.  We got arrested for beating up a shopkeeper.  It shouldn’t be too hard to find if you just…”  But her voice was fading. 

“Just what?” Hazel asked insistently as the blue glow dimmed.  It was too late; the spell had worn off.  Hannah’s staff clattered to the deck, looking for all the world like a long, fancy piece of wood. 

* * *

“You sure this tunnel will connect with a city sewer?” Hannah verified. 

“Assuming this is the right one, then yes, it will.” 

“You never explained how exactly you knew about this.” 

“Right.  Holly and I came here trying to track down a suspected Armada spy whose identity we didn’t know.”  Hazel scowled as if at a bad memory. 

“Did you find the spy?” Hannah prompted. 

“Well, yes and no,” said Hazel hesitantly.  “We thought we lost him.  After following the trail all over the city, we ran into Aaron contending with several rather nasty chimps and got him out of the sticky situation.”  She scowled. 

“Say no more!” Hannah replied, realizing where this story was going.  Aaron had been with Holly when her crew had rescued Hannah from the Armada.  He and Holly had had a very intimate relationship for a while, until he revealed his true colors as an Armada spy and had nearly succeeded in assassinating all of them.  Hannah had never before heard the story of how they met. 

A thought seemed to occur to Hazel.  “Why can’t you use that speaking spell to contact Holly?” 

“The spell is a little iffy for me, and I’ve never been able to get it to work before, but I guess once we’re out of this mess, we could try it.” 

Hazel stopped short.  “Why are we even doing this?  I have no investment in finding the Steel Pigeon—” 

“Iron Dove,” Hannah corrected. 

“Whatever.  Anyway, neither of us even knows who she is — we’re just helping Destiny.  And what about her, anyway?  She led us into a trap and has been making her own mission our priority this whole time!  What if this whole thing is another trap?” 

Hannah stopped as well and glared down at her short friend.  “You know what?  Fine.  It’s not like you’ve never been tricked and gotten others hurt because of it, but fine.”  At this comment, Hazel broke eye contact, but Hannah continued.  “If you want out, that’s great, though if you’ve been feeling like this the entire time, maybe you should have left back when we were on Skull Island.  You know what, take the ship.  Who knows, maybe you’ll be right and be able to find Holly on your own while I end up in prison.  Whatever the case, I’m staying.  I trust Destiny, and despite her mistakes, I think she’s our friend.  Besides, I made a promise, and I’m going to stick to it.”  A pause.  “Well, go on!” 

Hazel was gaping.  “What’s with you, Hannah?  You’ve been kind of weird this whole trip.  Kind of… well, not the Hannah I remember.” 

“That’s what happens when your entire world crumbles to pieces before your eyes.  Are you afraid Destiny is replacing the old friend crew, is that it?  Because you should know that’ll never happen.  Not unless you decide to be a jerk about it.” 

“That’s not it at all!  I just wonder if maybe you need to sort out your priorities.” 

“Really.”  Hannah gave her a hard look. 

“Okay, maybe that’s kind of it.  It’s just… the three of us traveled all over the Spiral together.  What if something terrible is happening to her right now?  What if she dies before we can find her?  I don’t think I could cope with losing her twice.” 

Hannah slumped, the rage leaving her body all at once.  “You’re right.  Of course you’re right.  But I did make a promise, and I intend to keep it.  Besides, once we’ve found Destiny’s friend, who knows?  She’s got to be a pretty impressive pirate herself.  Maybe she can help us find Holly.  Look, if you want to go back, okay.  I’m going on.”  Not waiting for an answer, she strode ahead.  She heard a patter of footsteps behind her and soon found Hazel at her side again. 

“I’m sorry, Hannah.  I’ll go with you.” 

* * *

Hannah froze as the grate made a loud creaking noise.  After much trial and error, they had found the sewers, and Hannah figured they were quite close to the prison, though really that was just a guess.  After a moment’s pause, she quickly pushed the grate all the way open, wincing at the loud squealing noise.  Then she dropped back down, just in case. 

After about a minute went by in tense silence, Hannah climbed back up to the now-open grate and peered out.  They seemed to be in some sort of back alleyway, which made sense.  One side of the alley was a high, unbroken stone wall; the other seemed to be the back entrances to a row of shops.  There was no one in sight, so she signaled for Hazel to climb up behind her and crept all the way out.  Hazel followed close behind. 

“I’d say that wall looks pretty promising,” Hannah said softly, indicating the stone wall. 

“It could be the edge of town,” Hazel pointed out. 

“Nevertheless, it’s a place to start looking,” Hannah insisted.  “Come on.”  Not worried about the windowless possible prison wall, she skirted the edge of the other wall, ducking whenever she passed a window of any kind.  They were all high enough that Hazel just walked straight under.  When they reached the end of the alley, they found that it branched, one side seeming to lead toward the main street and the front of the shops, the other tracing the perimeter of what Hannah was now almost certain was the prison.  The wall that had just come into view was peppered with evenly spaced windows, each covered by bars. 

 _“Now to get in,”_ Hannah whispered as quietly as she could manage. 

Hazel nodded.  _“Leave it to me.”_ Pressing herself against the wall with the windows, she crept along, covertly peeking through each bottom window.  Hannah tensed, hoping nobody would see Hazel, but she seemed all right so far.  Four windows down, she beckoned for Hannah to join her. 

As Hannah sidled up, she whispered, _“What’s your plan?”_  

Hazel shushed her.  Pulling out several strange tools, she set to work on the bars; Hannah couldn’t tell what she was doing, but after a moment, she carefully removed the whole thing and climbed in through the window.  _“Come on!”_ she hissed, beckoning frantically.  Hannah quickly followed. 

“Who are you?” said someone, causing Hannah and Hazel both to jump. 

“You didn’t tell me there was someone in here!” Hannah accused. 

“I didn’t know!” Hazel protested. 

“Well, here I am,” said the prisoner, a rather battered-looking female monkey who somehow managed to seem suave and a little dismissive.  “What are you doing in my cell?” 

“Just passing through,” said Hannah, trying to sound casual. 

“Right,” the monkey deadpanned, clearly not convinced.  “Well, if you let me out, I won’t call the guards.” 

 _“Are you sure about this, Hannah?”_ Hazel whispered. 

“Deal,” Hannah proclaimed.  “The door, Hazel?” 

Grumbling a little bit, Hazel went to the door and fiddled with the lock, taking only a few seconds to get the thick metal door open.  “Thank you, strangers,” said the monkey, vanishing down the corridor. 

“I guess that’s the last we’ll see of her,” Hannah commented.  “At least she won’t tell on us.” 

“I wouldn’t trust that,” Hazel cautioned.  “Come on, we need to move quickly.  Too bad we don’t know what floor they’re on.” 

Hannah gestured to one side of the hallway.  “I’ll look on this side, you look on that side?” she suggested. 

Hazel nodded tersely and began looking through the windows set in the cell doors.  Hannah did the same.  She spotted many monkeys and several other species of prisoner, but no humans.  Soon she reached a staircase, with Hazel arriving only moments afterward.  “No sign?” Hazel asked. 

Hannah shook her head, so they ascended, performing the same routine on two more floors with no sign of their friends or of guards, which seemed strange.  On the fourth and top floor, Hannah was about ready to give up hope.  Maybe they had the wrong prison!  Hazel had finished her side, and Hannah only had three more cells to check.  She stifled a sigh and peered through yet another window, drawing back in surprise as she was confronted with a pair of bright blue eyes.  “Destiny!” she exclaimed, delighted. 

“Can you get us out of here?” Destiny asked urgently, her eyes seeming to glow with intensity. 

“Of course.  Hazel!  I found them!” 

Hazel hurried wordlessly over and soon had the door open.  As soon as it swung open, Destiny squealed in delight, rushed out, and gave Hannah a hug.  Hannah pulled away.  “We’ve got to get out of here.  Where’s Harmony?” 

“Right here!”  It seemed that prison had done nothing to diminish the buccaneer’s bounce; she seemed as energetic as ever, if not even more so. 

“I’m coming too,” said a rather sour voice.  “I’m done with this place.” 

Hannah drew back as her old frenemy emerged.  “Haley,” she greeted, using a guarded tone. 

“Hello, Hannah.  Hazel.”  Haley’s tone was neutral, but her eyes were cold.  She leveled a glare at Hazel.  “I still blame you.” 

“You realize she’s alive,” Hazel replied testily.  “You’re welcome to help us find her, or you’re welcome to rot in there.  I’m good with either.” 

“Whoa, whoa, back up,” Harmony protested, glancing between Hannah, Hazel, and Haley.  “Have I missed something here?” 

Hazel sighed.  “When I told you the story of how Holly supposedly died, I’m pretty sure I mentioned that our friend Haley was also there.  Well, I say friend. Anyway, this is that same Haley.” 

Destiny looked startled.  Glancing between the other four girls, she said, “Hannah, Hazel, Harmony, Haley, and we’re looking for someone named Holly.  Am I the only person whose name doesn’t start with H?” 

Hannah laughed.  “I guess so.  Well, we’re looking for your Marissa, so you’re not completely alone.” 

“That’s a relief!” said Destiny with a grin. 

Hazel threw her hands in the air.  “Are we going to stand around talking all day, or get out of here before someone finds us?”  That sobered everyone. 

The five headed for the stairs, descending as quickly as they could without causing a ruckus.  Hannah ended up at the front of the group, reaching the bottom a little ahead of the others.  “Um, guys?  I think we’ve got trouble.” 

Indeed they had.  All the guards who seemed to have been missing were gathered near the bottom of the stairs.  At the front stood a monkey wearing a ridiculous cape and plumed helmet.  “Not you again!” Destiny groaned. 

“Me again,” the monkey confirmed with a most obnoxious smirk and a flourish of his free hand (his other hand clutched a jeweled sword). 

 _“You didn’t happen to bring my staff?”_ Destiny whispered hopefully in Hannah’s left ear. 

Hannah shook her head ruefully.  _“I’ve got mine, though.”_  

The two groups stared each other down for a moment.  The monkey in front seemed to shake himself after a few moments and issued a terse command: “Attack!” 

The monkey soldiers swarmed forward.  They were badly outnumbered, but that had never stopped Hannah.  She shot spell after spell into their midst, injuring and confusing many and knocking out a few.  Hazel, from her position in the back of the group, was taking advantage of her high ground and sniping monkey after monkey.  Harmony, undeterred by the fact that she had no weapon, leaped into the fray, grabbing one monkey by the tail and swinging him into his compatriots.  Haley had somehow managed to acquire a sword from one of the monkeys and was hacking and slashing the best she could. 

Hannah noticed a crossbow-wielding monkey in the midst of the throng who made her suspicious.  He had a secret smile, as if he had noticed something to Hannah’s left… and suddenly she understood.  Time seemed to slow down as the monkey pulled the trigger, releasing his deadly quarrel directly at Destiny’s chest.  “No!” Hannah shrieked, jumping in front of her friend and trying to gabble out the words of a shield spell.  Before she could finish, the quarrel grazed her staff and, thrown off its intended course, embedded itself in Hannah’s right shoulder. 

Dimly, Hannah heard Haley hollering that there were too many and they should fall back.  Through a haze of pain, she watched four intrepid monkeys pull Harmony to the ground.  They seemed outmatched, and some part of Hannah realized that she might die, but all she could think about was protecting her friend.  She watched through unfocused eyes as a new monkey, a rather haggard female, joined the fray, somehow managing to hold the army of guards at bay.  That snapped her out of her stupor.  It was the prisoner they had freed! 

“Come, quickly!” she called.  “I cannot hold them long!” 

“Marchioness?” Destiny exclaimed, hope and disbelief written across her features. 

“Yes, it is I,” said the monkey dramatically, flourishing her sword and disarming a guard. 

“You know this monkey?” Hannah exclaimed.

“She’s Marissa’s first mate,” Destiny replied, her sky-blue eyes shining.  “It has to mean we’re getting close!”

“Hurry!” the Marchioness urged with another gratuitous sword flourish.

The five needed no more encouragement.  They hurried through the gap that the Marchioness had created and sprinted for the prison door.  Their rescuer followed close behind, with all the remaining guards on her tail.  “You have a ship, yes?” she asked breathlessly. 

“Yes, down at the docks,” Hannah replied.  “How far?”  Her shoulder throbbed painfully.  Remembering the quarrel lodged there, she tugged it out and discarded it, ignoring the spurt of blood that stained her tunic and the fresh agony that accompanied it. 

“Not far,” the Marchioness replied.  “Left here!”  Under the monkey’s guidance, they hurried back to the _Bronze Garnet,_ boarding hastily.  As Haley severed the ropes connecting the ship to the dock, Hannah staggered, dizzy from blood loss.  Her vision blurred, and the deck seemed to be rushing up to meet her.  Just before her head hit the wooden boards, everything went black.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was mostly written by me, with Night's assistance.

For once in her life, Destiny didn’t feel the slightest bit skysick. This time, the illness that clogged her chest and constricted her breathing was worry. Hazel had taken the wheel while Hannah was unconscious, and had she been focusing a little more, the blonde witchdoctor would likely have observed the slight differences in the flight of the ship. As it was, she was too preoccupied to notice anything other than Hannah. 

Once they’d escaped from the port, Destiny had been quick to staunch the flow of blood, ripping a bit of cloth from her shirt. Since then, she hadn’t moved from her spot of vigil. Some of Hannah’s friends and crew members came into the cabin now and again, some even attempting to talk to Destiny. However, they quickly gave up when it became apparent the young teen wasn’t in the mood to converse. 

It hadn’t taken long for her to feel a familiar warmth against her chest. It was coming from a pendant which she wore underneath her clothes, the only reminder she had of her parents. On the surface, it wasn’t anything special- just a rough, tangerine stone attached to a chain of silver links. Destiny had thought the same thing at first, until a very special night, at least two years ago. It had been the anniversary of her parents’ death- or at least, the anniversary of when she’d known about it. She’d been sitting in her grief, quiet sobs escaping her, when she’d felt a strange warmth where the pendant rested. 

It was startling, to say the least. Checking on the stone, she’d found it pulsating with a soft glow, emitting the gentle heat she’d felt. It was strangely soothing, and Destiny had no doubt in her mind that the day would have been much harder without it. The same thing had happened whenever she had felt deeply upset afterwards, and though she didn’t really understand, the blonde was grateful for it. 

It was hardly surprising that it would show up now. After all, with guilt tugging at every corner of her being, it was safe to say the young pirate was sufficiently upset to trigger the stone’s effects. She raised a hand to the spot where it was concealed by fabric, feeling its warm ridges and inhaling a deep breath. It helped immensely, calming the tempest of thoughts in her head, if not eliminating it entirely. It was just as well, as the Marchioness entered the room at that moment. 

“Young friend of Captain Silver, are you ready to talk now?” the monkey asked briskly. Destiny lifted her head and gave a little nod to Marissa’s first mate. 

“I… I think I am, Marchioness.” Traces of crying were evident on her face, though she made no move to wipe them away. It was well-known to everyone on the ship that she’d been distraught, in any case. 

“We are headed to Zenda.” The Marchioness wasted no time, quickly bringing Destiny up to speed on what the others likely already knew. The witchdoctor recalled that name- the shopkeeper she’d attacked had brought it up, mentioning it as the base of operations for the Opposition. It was hardly surprising- if Marissa had been allied with the group, then of course Marissa’s first mate could find sympathy within them. “There, we will be able to find healers for your friend, and also be set on the path to find Captain Silver.” 

Destiny’s hopes soared at the mention of healers for Hannah. “Really?!” 

“Of course. The Opposition is a rebel organization, so it would naturally be equipped with a team of healers. Strength is all well and good, but it means nothing if your whole company is wounded.” She picked up on a slight fidget from the Marchioness- no doubt the privateer was silently berating herself over her current lack of ability in that department. Both she and Haley had been greatly weakened by their time spent in the prison, as she’d been quick to discover, although the human member of the pair had been a lot more snappy about it. Privately, Destiny wondered how Hannah could have ever put up with her, having taken an almost immediate disliking to Haley’s attitude. 

A thought occurred to Destiny as she thought about the Marchioness’ statement. “Wait, Marchioness- how come you weren’t with Marissa?” 

The monkey’s hazel eyes darted to the side before focusing back on the blonde, and she realized that was why the Marchioness had been fidgeting just a moment beforehand. “Captain Silver ventured into the heart of Monquista City on an urgent mission, one that would severely cripple the Crown. I, regrettably, was wounded during the course of this valiant quest. Captain Silver could not afford to linger, so she instructed me to hide out while I recuperated and then catch a ride back to Zenda with an Opposition spy. Unfortunately, I was caught.” She spoke with a terse tone, suggesting she would not reveal any more details. Destiny took the hint not to pry. 

“And you said the Opposition would be able to set us on Marissa’s trail?” 

“Certainly,” the tiny privateer replied, seemingly more relaxed now that they had moved away from the story of how she had ended up in Monquistan prison. “Captain Silver reported almost solely to Queen Eleanor for almost a year. I know for fact that since she never came to bust me out, that the Queen will have knowledge of her whereabouts.” 

Destiny was beaming, the first true, genuine smile she’d worn since she first met Hannah. She barely noticed the warmth against her chest fade, too swept up in her excitement. “How much longer?” 

“Not far. We have just passed the Summer Palace- we have have maybe half an hour ahead of us.” 

Destiny received many odd looks when she sprinted abovedecks, looking as healthy as a strawberry plant in season, but she chose to ignore them. Things were finally starting to perk up. 

* * *

“Queen Eleanor!” The Marchioness led the small group of pirates in approaching the leader of the Opposition. Destiny’s eyes flicked around the interior of the large, imposing fortress, and she wondered how Marissa could remain here long. The place was unnerving, sending chills down her spine, although she didn’t know what else she would have expected of a military base. 

Queen Eleanor herself was quite ridiculous-looking, in Destiny’s private opinion, with her over-the-top hairdo and frog-like face. Although, she had to admit that her expensive dress made Her Highness look slightly _less_ ridiculous. “Marchioness!” the former monarch greeted. “Though I am pleased to see you are well, I have very important matters I must attend to.  Speak to General Gortez — he will assist you.” 

Destiny was surprised by the quick dismissal, but the Marchioness seemed used to it. She supposed it wasn’t unusual, as Eleanor did have to run the Opposition, and there hadn’t been any ill will in her words. 

Gortez turned out to be a gorilla, his hulking size a sharp contrast to the diminutive stature of the Monquistans they’d already met. The Marchioness took initiative again, clearly unfazed by the fact that the General could likely pick her up in one hand. “Gortez, Queen Eleanor told us to speak with you. We have come here seeking Captain Silver. Do you know what her last mission was?” 

“Of course,” Gortez answered. “If it’s Marissa you’re looking for, I’d be happy to set you on her trail, if I might ask a favour in return.” 

Destiny saw the way the Marchioness’ eyes glanced back at her, seeking her agreement. She contemplated for a moment, then reasoned as the Opposition would be helping her out, it was only fair of them to return the favour. Was it too generous of her? Perhaps, but it was something Marissa would have (obviously) done, and Destiny always tried to live by the legend’s example. She gave a little nod to the Marchioness. 

“We are willing to offer our assistance,” the monkey agreed. 

“Many thanks, small friends,” Gortez responded with a slight incline of his head. “Last time I saw her, we sent Marissa after a royal flagship that was causing us many problems. Since then, we’ve lost contact with her. If you can find that flagship, you can likely find answers. Sink it, while you’re at it. The ship is named the _Rosa Angela.”_  

“Count on us,” Destiny promised, then hesitated, Hannah coming to mind. “Erm… we left one of our friends with your healers already. She lost consciousness from blood loss, do you know if she’ll be okay?” 

“We were notified of your friend’s condition when you brought her in,” Gortez replied. “She will be fine- give her some time. She will most likely be awake when you return.” 

Destiny could feel her relief like it was a physical weight. “Thank you so much,” she said happily, turning to the others. “Are you guys ready to go?” She suddenly realized that without Hannah to obsessively worry over, her skysickness would return. However, she sat that aside for now- she’d cross that bridge when she came to it. 

The group responded with various forms of agreement, and they made their way back down to the docks. It was decided that Hazel would fly the ship again, because although Harmony had offered, Destiny honestly had a bit more faith in the musketeer’s abilities here. 

* * *

“You might want to go belowdecks,” Hazel advised Destiny.  “When we catch up to the _Rosa Angela,_ things are going to get turbulent." 

Trying not to hurl her lunch over the side of the ship, Destiny shook her head.  “I’m staying on deck,” she replied grimly.  “If it means we find Marissa, I want to be here.” 

Hazel shrugged.  “Up to you.” 

“I think I see it,” Harmony reported from her vantage in the crow’s nest.  “Bear starboard a little.” 

As Hazel turned the ship, Destiny stared out across the roiling clouds of Tierra Primata Skyway and noticed a huge galleon some distance away.  Even at that distance, she could clearly make out the Monquistan flag — a yellow fleur-de-lis of bananas on a crimson field.  The ship itself was painted red and gold, had three masts, and overall seemed quite impressive.  Destiny worried about how the _Bronze Garnet_ could contend with such a ship. 

Too soon, the Monquistan flagship all but filled Destiny’s vision.  She could hear Bonnie Anne’s thick brogue below, ordering her fellow gunners to man their cannons.  She braced herself and closed her eyes as the first shots began to fire, booming like focused thunder, seeming to rattle the very air. 

“Destiny, the horn!” Harmony called urgently from halfway down the mast.  Destiny’s eyes jerked open in confusion.  _What horn?_ She tried to voice her question aloud but managed only a groan. 

“Oh, for goodness’ sake!”  Harmony leaped the rest of the way down, rolled, and ended up unscathed on her feet.  “There’s a summoning horn up by the stern; a lot of pirates have them and Hannah is no exception.  I want to be ready for hand-to-hand combat if it comes to that, and besides, with your power it should work better.” 

Destiny nodded, not trusting herself to speak, and made her way aft.  Summoning as much power as her wavering focus would allow, she blew hard into the horn.  It made no noise, and at first nothing seemed to happen.  At that moment, a blazing wind blew over the ship, and balls of fire began to rain down on the enemy ship.  Destiny enjoyed watching the monkeys frantically trying to avoid the flaming projectiles and put out the fires they lit.  Her pleasure was short-lived, however, as the monkeys returned fire with a hail of cannon shot. 

The ship rocked violently with the impact, and this time Destiny could do nothing to stop her last meal from flying out over the ship’s railing.  She sat down, closed her eyes, and tried to ignore the ship’s wild motion as the combat grew more intense.  She could ignore it no longer, however, when a flaming arrow impacted the deck right next to her, setting it alight.  She stood unsteadily and quickly stomped the flames out so they wouldn’t spread.  Then she turned hesitantly to see how the battle was progressing. 

Her shipmates were holding their own, but only barely.  Hazel spun the wheel frantically, trying to outmaneuver the _Rosa Angela_ , but there was no way she could avoid the attacks.  Harmony stood helplessly, spinning her spear as though wishing there was more she could do.  At that moment, Haley burst up from belowdecks, looking exhausted.  “Try to get close enough to board!” she called to Hazel.  “At this point, our only chance is to take this conflict deckside!” 

Destiny saw Hazel give a brief nod and begin trying to bring the ship closer to their enemies.  “Harmony, Destiny!” Haley called.  “I need you two to ready the planks so we can board as soon as possible.” 

“Who put you in charge?” Destiny complained. 

Haley glowered.  “I’m a privateer.  ‘In charge’ is my natural state of existence.” 

Destiny didn’t like it, but she was in no state to argue, so she obliged the prickly teen.  Hazel was nearly as skilled a pilot as Hannah, and soon they were too close for either side to use their cannons effectively.  In unison, Destiny and Harmony tipped the planks forward from the _Bronze Garnet_ to the _Rosa Angela_ and began to cross.  They had made it almost across, with Hazel and Haley close behind, when several monkeys leaped onto the planks to repel them. 

“Where is she?” Destiny bellowed at the Monquistan soldiers.  “Where is the Iron Dove?” 

One monkey had the nerve to laugh.  “You’ll never find her!” he jeered.  “She’s probably dead by now — her and all her mangy crew!” 

An explosion of anger and single-minded hatred overcame Destiny’s skysickness.  She launched spell after spell, curse after curse, driving the monkeys back onto their own ship and knocking a few into the Skyway.  Somewhere off to her left, she heard Harmony whoop with delight as she joined the fray, and gunshots rang in her ears — Hazel’s doing, of course.  None of it could capture her attention; green light blazed around her as she drove through the crowd of primates, so strong that any monkey who came close immediately collapsed.  In moments she found herself facing a monkey who had to be an admiral.  “I won’t ask this twice.  _Where.  Is.  She?”_ She pointed her staff at his chest, and he swayed unsteadily. 

“You mean the Iron Dove?” he asked in a voice that was slightly squeaky with fear.  “Sh-she’s dead, of course.” 

Destiny could tell he was lying, but she didn’t bother to say anything.  Instead, she picked up the armored chimp, slung him over her shoulder, and began to walk back toward the _Bronze Garnet._ She still clutched her staff and was still glowing, so the crowd of assailants parted before her.  As she crossed the plank, she told her cargo, “If you tell me the truth _and_ take me to the Iron Dove, I might possibly consider sparing your life.  Are we clear?” 

The admiral monkey gulped.  “We’re clear, ma’am.  Very clear.  Clear as clear can be!” 

While her shipmates continued their work on the _Rosa Angela,_ decimating the crew and sabotaging the hull, Destiny carried her prisoner down into the hold of Hannah’s ship.  She tossed him unceremoniously into one of the several holding cells, then slammed and locked the door.  “Now, speak,” she said through the window, “and make sure it’s the truth, or it’ll be the last thing you ever say.  Where is Marissa?” 

“Sh-shipwrecked on an island, last I knew of her,” the monkey answered, terrified. “The winds there are treacherous, and very difficult to maneuver while engaged in broadside combat. We were losing when her ship hit the edge of the island, so we took the chance to make our escape and lick our wounds.” 

“What island. Where is it.” 

“The island has no name, but it’s located near Diablo Cut. But like I said, only a fool would go there — it’s certain death.” 

“We’ll see,” Destiny replied curtly, walking away to return to her shipmates. She’d keep the end of her bargain, and drop him off on some island, somewhere he couldn’t cause harm. For now, she had better things to do. 


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was written by Night.

Hannah awoke to a dull throbbing in her right shoulder.  Blinking open her eyes, she found that she had no idea where she was.  It certainly wasn’t a cabin on her ship!  The room was small and mostly bare, with walls of tan stone and a single barred window.  _Am I in a prison of some sort? What happened?_

The door opened, and a smaller, longer-furred monkey than any other she’d met strode into the room.  “Oh, you’re awake!” the monkey exclaimed.  “Just in time, too; your friends are back!”

“Wha… what happened?”

The diminutive monkey clucked her tongue.  “You were shot by one of those awful imperial soldiers, don’t you remember?”

“I remember that part,” Hannah sighed, rubbing her shoulder and wincing.  “Where am I, and how did I get here?”

The monkey spread her arms.  “Welcome to Zenda, center of operations for the Monquistan Opposition!  The Marchioness and that band of humans traveling with her brought you here so that I and my colleagues could heal you.  By rights, you should be dead right now.”

Hannah cringed.  “That bad?”

The monkey medic nodded.  “I’ve fixed you up as best I can, though you’ll want to go easy on that arm for a week or two.  Now, let’s get you downstairs — your friends will be wanting to see you.”

Hannah stood and pushed past the medic.  “I can find my own way.”  Beyond her little room was a narrow hallway lined with doors identical to the one she had just left.  She headed for the end of the hallway, where she could see what looked like a staircase going down.  Halfway down the hall, she broke into a run, taking the stairs two at a time as her friends’ voices started wafting up to her ears.

“We’ve done as you requested,” Destiny was saying.  “Now can you _please_ — Hannah!”  For it was at that moment that Hannah emerged from the stairwell.  Abandoning a female monkey with a fancy dress and an atrocious hairdo, Destiny came bounding over to give Hannah a hug.

“Ow.  Ow.  Watch the shoulder, I’m not completely better yet.”  Hannah pulled away, nursing the afflicted limb.

Destiny looked a bit sheepish.  “Sorry.”  She turned back to the monkey with the huge hair.  “We managed to capture a high-ranking officer from the _Rosa Angela,_ who gave us intelligence that Marissa is stranded on an island near Diablo Cut.  Can you tell me where that is?”

The monkey nodded, her mass of hair making the gesture comical.  “I will have one of my soldiers make you a map.”  She snapped her fingers, and a rather ragged monkey appeared from a nearby door.

“Yes, Eleanor?” he asked.

She glared at him.  “That’s _Queen_ Eleanor to you.  Or Your Majesty.”  She gestured to Hannah and Destiny.  “Make a map to Diablo Cut for these giants, and do it quickly.”

“Yes, Your Majesty!” the monkey stuttered, bowing low and backing out of the room.

Hannah groaned softly.  She didn’t think anyone heard, but Destiny asked, “What is it?”

“I’m not great with maps,” she confessed.

“I’ll help you with it,” Destiny promised.

“You sure?” Hannah exclaimed.  “Won’t you get skysick?”

Destiny seemed to debate with herself for a moment, then repeated, “I’ll help.”  She turned back to Queen Eleanor.  “What would you like done with the prisoner we captured?”

The monkey queen waved a dismissive hand.  “We have a dungeon here.  Just bring him into the fortress, and I’ll have my soldiers deal with him.”

* * *

 

“All right, now right.  I think you’ll want to follow that Windlane.”

Hannah looked where Destiny was pointing and saw a swirling current of breeze off the starboard side of the ship.  She guided the vessel into it, enjoying the acceleration as the Windlane carried them along.  It seemed the same could not be said of Destiny; she looked extremely pale and was hunched miserably over the map that Queen Eleanor had provided.

“How much farther?” Hannah asked, glancing around as if she could spot Diablo Cut without knowing what it looked like.

“Not far.”  Destiny let out a small moan, and Hannah felt a twinge of sympathy for her skysick friend.  Destiny climbed to her feet and pointed to something far ahead.  “That’s Diablo Cut; the prisoner said the island would be just outside and a little to the left.”

Hannah followed Destiny’s finger with her gaze.  They were in a canyon of sorts, with high stone cliffs all around, and Destiny was pointing to a wide gap with tangled red vines growing from it.  Hannah knew immediately that she didn’t want to go there.  A little farther on, she could see a mass of floating rock that could only be the island.  As the ship drew closer, she began to make out details, such as the rocky, weedy surface of the little islet and the splintered boards that were all that remained of Marissa’s ship.

“That has to be it,” said Hannah, voicing the obvious.  Within moments, the island was upon them.  There was no dock, so Hannah dropped anchor nearby.  “Hazel, is the rowboat ready?”

Hazel’s voice wafted up from below.  “We have a rowboat?  Why haven’t we used it?”

“Never needed to,” Hannah called back.  “Can you get it ready?”

“Where is it?”  Hannah opened her mouth to reply but was interrupted by a loud crashing sound.  “Never mind, I found it!”

Hannah turned to Destiny.  “You’re coming, right?”

“Are you kidding?  If there’s a chance we’ll find Marissa, I’m not missing this!”

“All right.”  Hannah led the way down to the hold, where she found Hazel and Bonnie Anne wrestling with a smallish wooden craft, trying to position it to launch.  “Could you grab Harmony?” Hannah asked Hazel.  “I bet she’ll want to join us as well.”

“Will do.”  Hazel vanished down the corridor, and Hannah turned to examine the rowboat.

“It looks like we can fit five of us, if we squeeze.  That means you, me, Harmony…”

“The Marchioness,” Destiny offered.  “She’s Marissa’s first mate, and would be deeply offended if we left her behind.”

“Leaving room for one.”

“Captain, may I join ye?” Hannah turned upon hearing the Scottish brogue and found Bonnie Anne looking at her hopefully.  “Yair friend Destiny said my sister’s on the Iron Dove’s crew.  I’d like to see her again.”

Hannah had forgotten about Bonnie’s sister!  She nodded.  “Of course.”

At that moment, Harmony came bounding in with the Marchioness close behind.  “I’m so excited!” she squealed.  “We’re so close!”

The Marchioness flourished her sword.  “I am ready,” she proclaimed grandly.  The five piled into the rowboat and cast off through the hatch in the ship’s hull.  It turned out that the monkey prisoner had been right about the treacherous skies; fierce winds buffeted the tiny craft, causing it to bob and rock and Hannah and Harmony wrestled for control.  Destiny leaned over the side and hurled.

A crag of floating rock loomed in front of them, and Hannah paddled hard to avoid it.  Destiny looked downright green.  “This,” she declared, “is _much_ worse than flying in a ship!”

“Almost there,” Harmony promised, not even a bit winded from rowing.  “Right, Hannah?”

“I think.  Sort of.”  In truth, Hannah had lost sight of the island.  Breathing hard, she continued to row, knowing that one false move could shatter the boat and send them all falling to their death.

Soon enough, though, their path to the island was clear.  They landed the rowboat and staggered queasily onto the rocky shore.  Destiny collapsed, hugging the ground as if her life depended on it, but the Marchioness hauled her to her feet.  “Quickly, we must find my captain!”

Destiny groaned and stood.  “I think we should split up, make the searching go a little quicker.”

Bonnie Anne frowned.  “Ye never know what ye’ll find on an island like this.  Nobody should go alone.”

The Marchioness nodded.  “I will take Harmony and the fox.  The other two humans will go together.”  She spoke as if it had been decided.

The five glanced around at each other.  “Sounds good to me,” said Harmony with a shrug.

“I will lead my group around the perimeter,” the Marchioness declared.  “You two head for the center.”

 _“Is she always like this?”_ Hannah whispered to Destiny.

 _“It’s just how she is,”_ Destiny replied.  _“Marissa and the Opposition leaders are the only people she’ll accept orders from.”_

As the Marchioness, Harmony, and Bonnie Anne headed off to the left to search the perimeter, Hannah and Destiny set out for the middle of the island.  There wasn’t much to the island: rocks, a few plants, the occasional insect.  Destiny gradually seemed to recover from their turbulent jaunt and became talkative.

“I hope she’s still here.  I mean I hope she’s not dead.  What if we don’t find her?”

Hannah smiled.  “I’m sure we’ll find her.  I mean, we’ve come this far!”  Destiny started to say something else, but Hannah held up a hand to silence her.  “Wait.  Do you hear something?”

“No, I don’t think—” but she didn’t get to finish her sentence as four figures seemed to appear out of nowhere.

“Hello,” said a short, prim-looking otter in what must once have been a very fine pink coat, but was now quite ragged and faded.  “Prepare to surrender.”  His eyes darted this way and that as he spoke, his tone pinched and nearing hysteria.

“Lieutenant Emmet?” Destiny exclaimed incredulously.

The otter looked shocked.  “She knows!”

“Throw ‘em in the brig!” said a rat with a peg leg, a hook, a curly beard, and a rough, gravelly voice.

“Do we have a brig?” Lieutenant Emmet asked interestedly.

“Throw them off the island,” a grey goose carrying a long spear suggested; his accent was clipped and precise, but his feathers were ruffled and unkempt.

“Enough!”  Hannah did a double take; the new speaker sounded _exactly_ like Bonnie Anne.  When she turned to face her, she found herself staring at a fox who, aside from her pink garb and rumpled appearance, was identical to her own crewmate.  The fox, who had to be Bella Anne, turned to the two helpless witchdoctors.  “And you are?”

Destiny found her voice first.  “It’s me, Destiny.  Don’t you remember?”

“The Captain’s friend.  Well, whoever yair companion is, we’ll take ye to her and see if yai’re really who ye say ye are.”

The goose poked them with his spear.  “Get movin’!” the rat growled, brandishing his hook.  Hannah and Destiny needed no further encouragement, following Bella Anne with the rest of Marissa’s crew surrounding them.

“So, who are they?” Hannah asked Destiny.  “I know the otter is Lieutenant Emmet, and the fox is Bella Anne.”

“That’s right,” Destiny responded.  “The goose is Egg Shen, from distant MooShu, and he’s traveled with Marissa longer than just about anyone.  As for the rat, his name is Silverblood.  I’m pretty sure he’s some sort of relative of Ratbeard, but he’s much more trustworthy, at least if you’re on Marissa’s side.”

“Be silent,” said Egg Shen, poking them again.  “Do not speak unless the Captain speaks to you.”

As they continued, the island grew greener.  Grass, trees, and berry bushes grew straight from the rocks, and Hannah thought she spotted a tiny green person with a fiddle fluttering in the distance.  Eerie music reached her ears from afar.

 _"Does Marissa have a theurgist on her crew?”_ Hannah asked Destiny, confused.

_“A what?”_

_"A life wizard.  This place positively reeks of life magic.”_

_“You mean a witchdoctor with healing abilities?”_

Hannah shook her head.  _“I mean a full-on wizard with the ability to perform life magic.  Lots of wizards passed through Krokotopia, where I grew up, so I picked up a thing or two about their brand of magic.”_

Destiny frowned.  _“I’ve never heard of anything like it, so I don’t know.”_

They rounded a bend and found themselves in the middle of a ring of small trees.  A privateer who looked to be a year or two older than Hannah stood in the center, seemingly awaiting their arrival.  She held a sword in one hand, a shield in the other, and wore a dented steel helmet over tangled strawberry-blonde hair.  Eyeing them suspiciously, she spoke.  “Are you real?  How did you find me?”

“We’re really here,” Destiny promised, moving closer to her friend.  “A monkey from the _Rosa Angela_ told us how to find you.”

“The _Rosa Angela?_ You’re here to kill me!”

“No, no!” Destiny assured her.  “We sank the _Rosa Angela_ right before we came here!  We’re here to get you and your crew away from this place.”

Marissa still looked dubious.  “My crew as well?”

“Of course.  We should move quickly.”

“Who’s the other person?” she demanded suspiciously.

“My name is Hannah,” Hannah told her, not daring to approach lest she spook the seemingly crazed legend.

“You can trust her,” Destiny promised, filling Hannah with warmth at the recommendation.  “She’s the captain and pilot of the ship we’ve used to search for you.”

“She’s not the captain!” Lieutenant Emmet interrupted.  “The Iron Dove is the captain!”

“I take orders from none but Queen Eleanor,” Marissa agreed.

“Of course you’ll still be the captain of your own crew,” Destiny promised.  “You don’t have to take orders from anyone.  I was just explaining that Hannah provided her ship to the search, making it possible for us to find you.”

Marissa finally looked somewhat convinced.  Stowing her armaments, she said, “Very well.  I agree to trust this… Hannah.  Take us to your ship!” 

* * *

“Captain!”  Hannah heard the yell before she saw the Marchioness appear, followed almost as enthusiastically by Harmony and Bonnie Anne.  The monkey conquistador saluted, standing at attention until Marissa dismissed her with a distracted wave of her hand.

“Marissa!” Harmony cried.  “It’s so good to see you!”  Meanwhile, Bonnie Anne ran to her twin, and Hannah reflected that it had probably been even longer for those two than for the others.

Marissa herself looked somewhat antsy.  “When are we getting off this rock?” she demanded.

“Now,” said Hannah decisively.  “I think we’ll need to take a few trips; our rowboat is pretty small.”

Destiny groaned.  “Why couldn’t we just bring the ship closer?”

“If you want to be bashed to death against rocks, be my guest,” Hannah retorted; then her voice softened a bit.  “I’d miss you, though.”

“Rowboat?” Marissa prompted, her eyes darting in all directions.

“This way, Captain,” said the Marchioness haughtily, shooting a glare in Hannah’s and Destiny’s direction and strutting off toward where they had landed.  The rowboat was still there.

“It looks so innocent for a death trap,” Destiny muttered to Hannah, who stifled a giggle.

“All right, Captain, you first,” the Marchioness declared, her eyes daring anyone to argue.  It was Marissa herself who finally did.

“My crew first.  Then me.”

“But, Captain—”

“No arguments.”

The Marchioness scowled and nodded, hopping into the rowboat, followed closely by Lieutenant Emmet, then Egg Shen, Bella Anne, and Silverblood.  Egg Shen and Silverblood took up the oars, and Hannah watched their departure anxiously.  It seemed like ages before the boat returned, the Marchioness rowing frantically.

“Monquistan Navy approaching!” she gasped breathlessly as she landed the tiny craft.  “There are at least five ships heading straight for this island!”

Immediately everyone snapped into action, piling into the boat.  It was very crowded; the minute vessel hung low in the air, and the Marchioness had to sit on Marissa’s head, but they made it work.  Hannah and Harmony rowed away from the island.  It was more difficult with the added weight, but it also gave them enough ballast to keep from flinging around so much.  Soon they came within view of the _Bronze Garnet…_ and the fleet of Monquistan ships surrounding it.  It was hard to tell, but Hannah thought there had to be at least seven.

“My ship!” Hannah exclaimed, rowing frantically.

“My crew!” Marissa yelped at the same moment.

As they drew closer, it became evident that the monkeys had boarded the ship.  Hazel, Haley, Hannah’s crew, and Marissa’s crew all seemed to be fighting for their lives against the screeching apes that swarmed all over the deck, more arriving in droves every minute.

Hastily, they pulled the rowboat into the _Bronze Garnet_ ’s hold and clambered out, racing for the stairs up to the deck.  Though they met with no resistance on the way up, the scene on the deck was utter mayhem.  With the exception of Hazel who, as usual, hung from the rigging, every inhabitant of the ship stood in a knot around the mast, fighting for their lives, surrounded by a sea of chimps.

In the time it took Hannah to ready a spell, the monkeys had overwhelmed Kan Po and Keisuke Yagi, a pair of goat martial artists from MooShu who had traveled with Hannah since shortly after she’d met Holly, bringing them to the deck with a pair of twin thuds.  She hoped they weren’t dead, but she didn’t have time to dwell on it.  She launched her Mojo Strike into the crowd, smiling faintly as a knot of monkeys collapsed, writhing.  They didn’t seem to be paying much attention to the newcomers, until—

“There!” shouted a very fluffy, orange-furred ape, pointing behind Hannah and a little to her left — right at Marissa.  An eerie silence fell as every monkey on the ship whipped around to stare at the group of newcomers.  Then pandemonium broke out as the soldiers rushed them.  Hannah found herself using her staff to fend off swords, pikes, and halberds, with no window to even think about casting a spell.  Despair began to set in, but as suddenly as they had turned, the monkeys began pouring off the deck and back to their own ships.

From the rigging, Hazel gave a whoop.  Freed from her assailants, Hannah began casting spell after spell, launching bursts of green and purple light at the fleeing primates.  Heartened, she chased the Monquistan soldiers as far as the planks before backing off.  More cheers rose from the crew of the _Bronze Garnet,_ but Destiny voiced what they had surely all been thinking.  “Is it just me, or was that too easy?”

Hannah nodded pensively.  “They should have killed us all.  I don’t care how good we are at fighting; they had us surrounded and outnumbered about fifty to one.”

“So what did they want?” Haley asked, sounding almost interested for the first time.

Dead silence.  Then suddenly, Harmony spoke, looking concerned — horrified, even.  “Where’s Marissa?”


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was written by me.

Destiny knew that what she had been doing to herself wasn’t healthy, but she couldn’t find it within herself to care. Ever since Marissa had been taken, a cold, calculating rage had ruled her body and mind. She ate and slept only when one of her friends forced her to, and even then, sometimes she could be quite stubborn about it, insisting she didn’t feel tired or hungry. At one point, after she hadn’t slept for forty-eight hours straight, Hannah had ended up threatening to curse her to the bed. She had reluctantly given in after that.

As days passed in this fashion, she began to become comparable to Haley as far as her appearance went. Dark shadows hung under dull blue eyes, her features pale and gaunt. Even her blonde hair seemed to lose its shine. On occasion, she’d hear a whispered remark about her appearance, but it would be quickly dismissed in her mind. She simply didn’t have the will to care.

The witchdoctor also threw herself into mission after mission without rest- anything that would eventually lead her to Marissa. Queen Eleanor and the rest of the Opposition didn’t seem to really care about this, but her friends definitely showed concern at Destiny’s recent behaviour. Hannah, above all others, seemed to display the most worry.

It was evident every time Destiny asked Hannah to assist her with some task out on the Skyways, for indeed, her rage seemed to have chased away her skysickness. Rather than being her worst nightmare, the open air was freedom to her. The most recent task she’d been assigned would take her into the heart of Monquista City, and she knew she’d need Hannah’s help.

“Hannah.” Her tone was softer with her fellow witchdoctor than anyone else. It still lacked its former warmth, but it wasn’t like ice. “Could you help me? I need to get to Monquista City.”

To her surprise, Hannah shook her head. “This isn’t good for you, Destiny,” she said firmly.  “What, exactly, do you think tearing yourself apart will accomplish?”

Destiny’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly, and this time, when she spoke, there was a slight venom in her words. “That’s none of your business.”

The older girl scoffed. “Right. Of course it’s none of my business that my best friend is losing her mind over this!” Her tone softened a little. “We _will_ find her, Destiny. I promise.”

“And what if it’s not soon enough?” Destiny demanded, growing tired of this argument. Why wouldn’t Hannah just take her to Monquista City? “You saw what she was like, Hannah! I don’t think she was even sane!”

“Oh, and you are?” Hannah shot back. “I’m telling you, we’ll find her, but not if you continue like this!”

“I don’t see anyone else trying to help!” she snapped. Maybe it was her sleep-deprived mind finally getting to her, but it was true- she hadn’t seen one person as invested in finding Marissa as she was.

Hannah inhaled a deep breath, presumably trying to calm herself. “All right. I’ll take you to Monquista City, but on one condition.”

Destiny raised an eyebrow. “What is it?”

“You have to promise me you’ll take better care of yourself.” The younger witchdoctor’s eyes narrowed further this time. “If I ever have to threaten or coerce you into eating or sleeping once we’re done, I swear I will lock you in a cell and not let you out until we find Marissa.”

Destiny let out a disbelieving snort at that threat. “Yeah, good luck with that.” Speaking quickly before Hannah could interrupt her, she added to her statement.

“Fine.”

* * *

“So, what exactly are we doing here?”

“We’re looking for a monkey named Alarico Aiza,” Destiny replied as she made her way over to the sewer entrance that would lead them into the heart of the city. She noticed that Hannah seemed familiar with the place, but it was unimportant to their task, so she set it aside for now. “He’s apparently close to the King and Queen of Monquista, so if we could capture him and get him to talk, we’d have some very valuable information about the Crown.” Under her breath, she muttered, “And maybe about Marissa, too.”

Hannah showed no signs of having heard her mumbled comment, nodding in understanding. “Any knowledge of where Alarico lives?”

“Near the prison you rescued Haley, Harmony and I from, actually. You said you knew how to navigate this place?”

Hannah nodded again. “That’s right. The fact that it’s near the prison actually makes this easier. Follow me.” She set off at a quick pace, her staff held at the ready in case something attacked them.

Thankfully, nothing did, but their clothes were covered in sewer gunk when the older of the pair stopped at a large grate. “This is the place,” she announced softly, pushing the grate cover aside. Destiny winced at the loud squealing noise, holding her breath as Hannah listened for any signs of people being nearby. After a moment, her best friend beckoned her over, indicating it was safe.

“That’s the prison we rescued you from,” Hannah whispered, pointing out a high stone wall once they climbed out of the sewers. “Where do we go?”  
  
Destiny paused, looking around. “I actually have no idea,” she replied sheepishly. “Queen Eleanor gave me a description of the house, but I have no clue where… wait. I think I know a spell that could tell us where to go. Cover me.” Not waiting for Hannah’s response, she summoned an image of the mansion to mind- four floors, gold fence and gate, and an expansive amount of land. Planting her staff in the ground, she shut her eyes and took a deep breath, holding it. She felt her staff grow warm beneath her palms, and she began to slowly release the air trapped in her lungs, knowing that when she finished, the path would be clearly marked in her mind’s eye.

Only, that didn’t happen. Her staff cooled to a normal temperature without any sort of image appearing. “What?” She opened her eyes, staring at Hannah in confusion, as though she somehow held the answer. “Why didn’t it work?”

“Probably because you’re mentally exhausted _and_ physically exhausted,” Hannah replied, though she continued before Destiny had a chance to snap the reply she wanted to. “Let me give it a try. What was the description of the house?”

Reluctantly, Destiny repeated the description she’d been given. She watched as Hannah repeated the spell she’d just tried to cast, apparently succeeding. “That way,” she said, indicating another side street.

Destiny nodded, creeping forwards to peek around the corner of the row of shops. “Looks all clear, but we’d best hurry,” she told Hannah before straightening to her full height, having been slightly hunched over. She ran to the alley across from them, the sound of footsteps indicating Hannah was close behind.

They continued like this for a while, darting across the pristine streets while trying to keep a low profile. There was one point at which Destiny had been sure they’d been seen, but the monkey that had alarmed her simply carried on with his merry way. Her sigh of relief might have been louder than intended.

After about five minutes of this, they arrived at what appeared to be the back gardens of the mansion. Not that it was much of a garden- just some shrivelled bushes, really, due to the lack of rain on Monquista. However, the rest of the place was in perfect condition, not a stone out of place on the path leading up to the back door.

“What’s the plan?” Hannah whispered to her.

“Stroll in there and ask to have a chat with Alarico Aiza,” she replied without thinking, pulling a chuckle from the other blonde. The sound brought a slight smile to her face. “But really, I think we’re going to have to try stealth.”

“Our outfits don’t really bear stealth in mind,” Hannah pointed out, “and we’re no swashbucklers.”

“I know, that’s why I said _try.”_ She scanned the grounds again. She spotted a singular monkey wearing armor that had to be more aesthetic than functional doing a patrol. “Even if we fail, security doesn’t look that tight.”

“All right, I trust your plan,” the older girl agreed, though she held her staff as though preparing for a fight. Destiny couldn’t blame her- knowing her luck, they’d attract the attention of the one guard anyway.

Keeping low and using the dead shrubs as cover where they could, the two teenagers slunk towards the house. However, about halfway across the garden, the guard made a sudden, unexpected turn. Destiny froze, hands unconsciously tightening on her staff.

“Intruders!” he bellowed in a surprisingly loud, clear voice. Immediately, three monkeys with equally as ridiculous equipment poured out from the mansion. However, their swords all looked wickedly sharp. The blonde felt they could easily slice her tresses of hair off, and she didn’t fancy having those blades meet her skin.

As she began to draw on her power to cast a spell, Destiny felt exhaustion tug at her. The purple sparks that had been beginning to form at the tip of her staff fizzled out, and out of the corner of the eye, she saw the concerned look on Hannah’s face.

“Are you okay?” she murmured, preparing her own spell as the guards drew closer by the second. The younger blonde nodded, trying to get the spell to work again while battling off the weariness that threatened to drag her down.

An image of Marissa, frantic and tense, flashed into her mind.

Something snapped inside of Destiny, and suddenly violet light was spilling down the sides of her staff like mist. She wasn’t even certain if what she’d achieved was a real spell. All she knew that it was _powerful,_ even more so than the rage that had overtaken her on the _Rosa Angela._

The guards hesitated about three meters away, as though knowing approaching further would be their undoing. A bolt of dark energy, courtesy of Hannah, met with the original guard, stunning him and putting him out for the count.

Destiny blinked, and it appeared as though the picture of Marissa was tattooed onto the insides of her eyelids. A deadly rage came to life within her like a roaring flame, and she had sent one of the monkeys flying into the air without even thinking about it. He was unconscious before he hit the ground.

A look of fear began to cross the expression of a monkey in her peripheral vision and she whipped around, jabbing her staff into his face. There was no mark left behind except for a bruise, but the monkey turned tail and fled, apparently too afraid to continue the fight.

A white hot pain lanced across her left calf, and she heard Hannah give a shout as she fell to her knees. She felt something warm and sticky drip down her leg- blood, without a doubt. She shook for a moment on her knees, waiting for the pain to pass. Her staff had fallen from her hands, losing its purple glow. Rationally, she was aware of how stupid turning her back to an enemy-

“Destiny, are you okay?!”

-was. She dismissed the thought, knowing the monkey was most definitely out of commission.

“I’ll be fine,” she said through gritted teeth. “It’s just a scratch. Help me inside?”

Instead of replying, Hannah put an arm around her shoulders and helped her limp over to the steps leading up to the deck, before kneeling to wrap her wound in cloth. “Stay here,” the older girl said with a tinge of warning in her voice. “I’m getting Alarico myself, then we’re heading back to Zenda.”

“Really, Hannah, it’s fine,” Destiny began to say, just to try, but a look from Hannah quickly silenced her. She stared at the ground as the other finished her work, before moving inside. “Be careful.”

“I will,” her best friend promised, and then she had disappeared inside the house. Destiny counted the minutes in her head, surprised when Hannah reappeared only two minutes later, with the unconscious form of the monkey who had to be Alarico slung over her shoulder. It had felt like two hours.

“I got him. How are you feeling?”

“Fine, let’s get back.” She stood up, her eyes unconsciously scanning Hannah for any sign of obvious injury. She wobbled a bit on her feet, and the other blonde’s arm immediately shot out to steady her.

“Woah, take it easy, Destiny. Save your strength for if we really need it getting back to the ship.”

Right. They still had to make it back to the ship. “Once we get to an alley, leave me there. Take Alarico to the ship, and come back for me.”

Hannah looked surprised. “What?”

She smiled weakly. “I’m no privateer, but I know I’ll just be added weight. I think I can hold a position if needed, anyway.”

For a moment, Hannah looked like she was going to argue, but then she nodded. “All right. I’ll be quick, I promise.”

“I know you will.” She paused, hesitating. “Thanks.”


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was written by Night.

As Hannah steered the _Bronze Garnet_ back toward Zenda, an enormous crashing and booming noise filled her ears.  Drawing the ship closer, she realized the sound was artillery — _giant_ artillery by the volume.  She felt a thrill of foreboding at the sight of shattered ships surrounding the Opposition fortress, and cried out as a huge shell took off the very tip of the stern.  Gritting her teeth, she maneuvered her vessel through the wreckage and dropped anchor by the small dock.

With the ship as safe as it could be given the circumstances, she ran belowdeck to check that Alarico was safely locked in the brig.  He sneered at her, and she scowled back.  At least he wouldn’t be escaping any time soon.  She then raced back up to the deck and reached out a hand, helping a very shaky Destiny to her feet.  With one arm around her shoulders, Hannah helped her debark and limp painfully into the fortress.  She reflected that although she had only known Destiny for a few days, after all they had faced together, she felt as close to the slightly younger girl as she was to any of her other friends.

Inside the stronghold, it was sheer pandemonium.  Monkeys ran around willy-nilly, some delivering messages or carrying armloads of weapons, others simply waving their arms and tails and screaming.  These were interspersed with the taller figures of Hannah’s friends, crewmates, and friends’ crewmates.  Hannah began pushing through the throng to speak to Queen Eleanor, but she was accosted by Hazel, with both fox twins beside her.

“We have a serious problem,” said the diminutive redhead.

“If you mean the giant cannons outside, I noticed,” Hannah deadpanned.

“That’s exactly what I mean!” cried Hazel, obviously frustrated.  “They’ll smash the fortress — maybe even the whole _island_ — into rubble if we can’t stop them!”

Hannah folded her arms.  “If you want me to fly you to them, I won’t.  That would be certain death, and I’d rather live to see tomorrow, wouldn’t you?”

“If we do nothing, none of us will live that long,” Hazel countered flatly.

“I’m not flying anyone out there,” Hannah insisted.

“Have ye got a better plan, then?” Bonnie Anne asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Fly…”  Up to that moment, Bella Anne had been staring into the distance with unfocused eyes, her tail twitching spasmodically.  As Hannah watched, the cloudiness seemed to leave her gaze.  She turned to look down at Hazel.  “It was ye that created those wings, correct?”

“It was,” Hazel confirmed.  “I think I’ve got the kinks worked out, and I made a couple more pairs.  Why?”

“I think I know how we can deal with that artillery.”  A smile spread across the fox’s features, and she began to describe her idea. 

* * *

 “Absolutely not,” said Hannah firmly.  “You’re staying here until that wound is completely healed.”

“Sheesh, what’s gotten into you lately?” Destiny demanded.

“Stress, worry, and the fact that you constantly insist upon doing things you’re in no fit state to do!”  Hannah winced at the harshness in her voice and lowered her tone.  “Look, Des, I know you want to help, but you can help more by staying here and healing — if you came with us, you’d slow us down.  Besides, I don’t want anything else to happen to you.”

Destiny looked like she was about to argue, but then she sighed.  “You’re right.  Be careful, okay?”  She gave Hannah a quick hug.

“If I don’t make it back…” Hannah started, but Destiny interrupted.

“You’ll make it back.  Now go get ‘em!”

Hannah grinned and left the room.  Hazel was waiting outside.  “Did you manage to persuade her?” the musketeer asked.

“Fortunately,” Hannah replied.  “We’d better hurry before she changes her mind and thinks of another argument.”

“I’ve got your wings here.”  Hazel handed her a pair of wings that she thought was the same pair she’d worn in the Stormgate, but she couldn’t be sure.  They were larger and shinier, with more ribbing and a totally different steering mechanism.  “This straps onto your elbows,” Hazel explained.  “It allows you to steer with your hands free.  If you want to glide, pull this cord.”  The cord in question dangled from the strap on Hannah’s left elbow.

“Anything else I should know about?” Hannah asked.

Hazel considered.  “I don’t think so.  The twins are ready, so as soon as you’ve got these on, we can go.”

Hannah nodded, strapping the complex device on where Hazel had indicated.  Not only did the new design make much more sense, it was also much more comfortable.  She gave an experimental flap and felt herself rise into the air over Hazel’s head before drifting back down.  “Whoa!” she exclaimed.

“Great, huh?” said Hazel smugly, flapping as well.  Until that moment, Hannah hadn’t noticed that her friend was also wearing wings.  “Come on, we need to get going!”

The two pirates folded their wings against their sides and dashed down the corridor to the fortress’s main entrance, where the fox twins awaited.  “Captains,” said Bonnie Anne respectfully, making Bella Anne wince. Hannah assumed that was because she would only acknowledge Marissa as Captain.  Hannah was also reminded that before joining her crew, Bonnie had actually been Hazel’s loyal first mate.

“Everyone ready?” Hazel asked, but then added, without waiting for an answer, “Wait.  I almost forgot.”  She reached into an impossibly deep pocket and pulled out four pairs of goggles.  “These will help against wind, dust, and small debris.”  She quickly distributed them, checking to make sure everyone was wearing them before launching herself into the air.  Hannah and the foxes quickly followed.

The four soared into the sky above the surface of the Skyway, dodging debris until they were above where any ship could go.  “Look around,” urged a fox; turning to look, Hannah saw that it was Bella.  “We need to know where they’re shooting from.”

Hannah scanned the Skyway below her.  _Rubble.  Wreckage.  Opposition ship — nope, more wreckage now.  Where are all the Monquistan Navy ships?_ She could find no sign of anywhere the monkeys might be shooting from, just dust and debris.  Unless… “There!”  Her companions turned to look at her, and she pointed to where the dust was especially thick.  _Unnaturally_ thick.

“I don’t see anything,” said Hazel, obviously confused.

“Exactly,” Hannah replied with a small grin.  “They’ve covered up whatever they’ve got there so they can shoot at us without fear of retaliation!”

“Well spotted!” Bonnie congratulated.

“Oh, that’s clever,” Hazel said at the same moment.

“We’ll want to get behind it,” Bella advised.  “They’re less likely to notice us that way.”

They all nodded, swooping around the dust cloud.  As they drew close, it became hard to see, but at least the goggles kept the dust from getting in Hannah’s eyes.  They skirted the edge, following the curve until Zenda was completely out of sight.  Hazel signaled with her hand for them to move in, and they did, penetrating the thick haze.

As Hannah flew blindly through the fog, an enormous _something_ came into view.  From the shape, it didn’t look much like a ship, and it was larger than Zenda itself!  Whatever it was, it was lined with lanterns, presumably so the monkeys crewing it could see where they were going.  The closer she came, the more impressed she was with the thing.  She began to make out more details: it seemed to be a giant floating platform with three truly immense cannons, all pointed toward the Opposition fortress.  Tiny shapes that could only be monkeys scurried around these, constantly firing and reloading.

The team of four landed on the edge of the platform where none of the monkeys seemed to be going and huddled close.  “They’re larger than I expected, but the plan should still work,” said Bella in a hushed voice.  Turning to Hannah, she added, “Ready for your part?”

Hannah nodded tensely.  “As ready as I’ll ever be.”  Her job was to distract the monkeys — _not_ a pleasant or safe endeavor.  She launched herself back into the air, steering out in front of and above the cannons.  “Hey, you hairy shrimps!” she called, lighting up her staff so she could be sure they saw her.  A few monkeys turned to look, but it wasn’t nearly enough, so she decided to up her game.

Giving a tremendous flap of her wings, she spun upward, then turned toward the monkeys and lashed her staff downward.  A hail of small fireballs bombarded the platform, striking cannons, monkeys, and the platform itself.  The monkeys flew into a panic, searching for the source of the sudden conflagration.  It wouldn’t be long before someone spotted her, but at least they were distracted.

“There!” called a monkey’s voice, and Hannah knew her job was about to get much more difficult.  She quickly unleashed another firestorm on the artillery before swooping down over the monkeys’ heads — anything to keep the focus on her.  At first it seemed to go well, but then she heard a tearing noise and found herself listing toward her left.  She realized what had happened just as the monkey raised his crossbow and shot her wing a second time, rendering it useless.  She spiraled down into the waiting mass of enemies.

Two monkeys wrenched Hannah’s staff away from her.  Several others tore the wings from her back, leaving only the fastenings.  She struggled and kicked, but without her staff she was useless in a fight.  A monkey grabbed her right arm and yanked, and she gave an involuntary yelp as her wound from the prison break flared with pain.  The single moment of weakness gave the monkeys enough of an advantage to drag her to the ground, where about eight held her pinned to the platform.  She could only hope that the others were able to complete the mission and get away unnoticed; she knew her luck had finally run out.

A new monkey had the nerve to stand on her chest, pointing his sword at her throat.  “You are one of the Opposition’s giants, yes?”  He leaned in close, and she got a whiff of his foul breath.  “It would be in your best interest to answer truthfully,” he added with a sneer.

Hannah considered.  “Yes and no.  I’m not here for them, but I am—”

“Do not try to confuse me!” the monkey screeched.  “Are you or are you not helping the foul Opposition!”

This was an easier question to answer.  “I suppose I am.”

“Kill her!” one of the watching monkeys shouted, and the crowd gave a deafening roar in response.

 _This is it.  I’m dead.  I hope the others find the legends okay.  Oh stars, will Destiny be okay?_ Braced for the worst, the earth-shattering _BOOM_ that sounded off to her left almost didn’t register.  What did register was the fact that the sword was removed from her throat, and the monkeys holding her leaped to their feet.  They could do nothing more before a second _BOOM_ went off directly to her right.

“What is this?” yelled the monkey who had questioned her.  In response, the final cannon exploded.

“Hazel!  Over here!” Hannah called, jumping and waving her arms desperately.  The monkeys turned their attention back toward her and seemed about to spring again, but at that moment, she was jerked off her feet and into the air, and found herself soaring between Bonnie and Bella. As they glided over the enraged primates, Hannah snatched her staff from the soldiers who had taken it.  Slowly but surely gaining height, the foxes winged away from the platform with Hannah dangling between them and Hazel just behind.

“We should head straight for the ship,” Hazel suggested in an urgent tone.  “Those monkeys weren’t happy, and they’ll know that it was the humans in particular who completed this sabotage, so we need to make ourselves scarce.”

Hannah nodded.  “Mind flying ahead and telling the others?”

Hazel grinned, her dark eyes glinting with mischief.  “Thought you’d never ask.”  With two enormous flaps, she rose high above the rest of the team, then zipped off toward Zenda in a steep dive.

Despite the extra burden of Hannah pulling on their wings, the fox twins and their witchdoctor cargo made it safely to the _Bronze Garnet,_ alighting gently on the deck right as Harmony, Haley, and the rest of Hannah’s and Marissa’s crews boarded, with Hazel flapping overhead and looking smug.  Last to board was Destiny, limping a little but looking, on the whole, much brighter and healthier than she had been lately.

“Is that everyone?” Hannah asked, glancing around at the small crowd.  It seemed to be, so she darted up to the pilot’s wheel and marveled as Harmony hoisted the anchor single-handed.  Was there no limit to the bubbly young buccaneer’s strength?

As she carefully steered the ship away from the island and off into Tierra Primata Skyway, Destiny ascended the steps to Hannah’s platform. For once, she didn’t seem skysick — just distracted.  “I take it the mission went well?”

Hannah winced.  “Mostly.  We succeeded.”

“Mostly?”

“There was a… a _complication,_ as it were.”

Destiny’s eyes narrowed.  “What kind of complication?”

Hazel, still with her wings on, landed on Hannah’s other side.  “The monkeys caught Hannah and almost managed to kill her, but then we blew up the cannons!”

“WHAT?” 

Hannah felt as though her eardrums had just exploded, and everyone on the deck turned to look.  “It’s okay, really!” she insisted, glaring at Hazel.  “Everything turned out fine.”

“It’s just — I just — gah!”  Destiny stomped away, favoring her left leg.

Hazel cocked her head to one side.  “What’s her deal?”

Hannah smiled slightly.  “I have no idea.”


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this chapter.

Sweat dripped down Destiny’s forehead as she allowed herself to collapse to the deck of the  _ Bronze Garnet.  _ The ship was sailing away from the port of La Mancha, where they had been hiding- and somehow, they had been discovered. No one could fathom why- their presence on the island had been very clandestine.

She heard a soft murmur of voices in the background, and then Hannah was kneeling at her side. “Destiny, are you all right?” Lifting her head, the younger witchdoctor could see that Hazel was at the wheel now.

“Just tired,” she answered. “My leg is screaming in pain, though- it probably wasn’t ready for that kind of exertion yet.” She tested the limb, finding it ached less now that she wasn’t running for her life, but it still throbbed with a dull pain.

“Which is exactly why you didn’t go on the mission to destroy the artillery.”

“Yes, Hannah,” Destiny sighed. She thought of bringing up the fact that Hannah had nearly gotten herself killed on said mission, but decided against it. What was done was done, and no amount of wishes could change it. In any case, the older blonde hadn’t died- she was alive and safe. Well, as safe as any of them could be.

The thought spurred her to give the other a brief hug, pretending to use Hannah as a support to get to her feet. Hannah’s hands hovered uncertainly in the air, as though worried she would fall over again. “I’ll be fine,” Destiny assured, summoning a smile to her face. “I’m gonna go check on Alarico. You should get back to the wheel.” Her best friend nodded, turning and walking back to do just that.

As she made her way to the brig, she met Lieutenant Emmet at the bottom of the staircase. “Hello, Emmet,” she greeted politely, trying to ignore the constant fidgets and twitches of the otter. “How are you?”

“Fine.” There was a distant quality in his tone that indicated his mind was not fully there- it was present in all members of Marissa’s crew. “What are you doing down here?”

She recalled a time when Emmet would refer to her as ‘lass,’ and her heart twinged painfully.  _ No, don’t let it get to you. He’ll be fine. So will the rest of Marissa’s crew. And Marissa herself. If we find her.  _ When _ we find her.  _ She shook herself slightly. “I’m checking on Alarico. Would you like to join me?”

Emmet was silent for some time- unnervingly so, in Destiny’s opinion. Just as she was about to gently push past him, he gave a crisp nod. No words were spoken- no words were needed. He turned on his heel, and the blonde followed as he strode forward. Finding Alarico’s cell, the pair stopped and looked inside- and Destiny felt her blood run cold.

Messages. Alarico was writing messages on tiny pieces of parchment. Suddenly, it made sense to how they were found at La Mancha- the noble had been giving his countrymen inside information. “How did you get that?! How are you sending messages?!”

Alarico looked up with an infuriating smirk on his fuzzy face. He said nothing, and Destiny felt anger boil within her. It was becoming an uncomfortably familiar sensation. However, before she could start threatening the monkey, Emmet spoke.

“Messages…” His tone was clear and even, catching the young girl’s attention. Ever since the island, she’d never heard Emmet speak that way. “Young lass, it matters not if he tells us how he sends the messages- there may be a way to stop him without the information.”

“There is?” Destiny turned to the otter. His eyes shone with a new clarity, and he had a hand raised to his chin in thought.

“Yes, indeed.” Emmet nodded. “Though, perhaps here is not the best place to discuss it. Let’s get back up to the deck, eh what?”

* * *

The  _ Bronze Garnet  _ docked at St. Bonobo’s Abbey. Apparently, Queen Anna had a spell that she used to keep the location safe, as it was in Opposition hands. The spell, Emmet reasoned, would likely protect them anywhere, rendering Alarico’s messages useless.

“Queen Anna lives in that tower back there,” the otter informed, raising a hand to point out a large spire rising up from behind the rest of the buildings. Destiny nodded, beginning to limp her way up to the area with Emmet at her side. Several monkeys called out greetings as she passed, likely recognizing her as one of the humans of the Opposition (not that she’d done much for them). After a short amount of time, they stood in front of a pair of double doors that were only big enough for Destiny to walk through if she ducked her head.

“After you, lass,” the lieutenant told her, and she nodded. Once inside, Queen Anna was easy to recognize- she had a large mass of black hair, and a dress that was as elegant as Eleanor’s. Personally, Destiny thought she pulled off the style much better than her sister-in-law. Destiny crossed the small tower room to speak to her.

“Queen Anna?” she asked hesitantly, as the ex-monarch was intently studying a scroll. She jumped, a gloved hand being placed against her chest.

“Goodness gracious, you startled me!” she exclaimed, looking up at the blonde. “How may I help you, giant?”

“I’m with the Opposition-” Destiny began to say, but the monkey cut across her.

“The Opposition? You must be one of the humans who completed the sabotage!”

Destiny shook her head. “I’m with them, but that wasn’t me. A few of my other friends did that- I wanted to join them, but they convinced me not to.” More like Hannah had convinced her- had anyone else tried persuading her, she probably would have stubbornly insisted on coming.

“My mistake,” Queen Anna nodded. “Now, what was it you came here seeking?”

“We heard you used a spell to protect St. Bonobo’s Abbey. We were wondering if we could use it,” the blonde witchdoctor requested. “You see, we captured a noble, but he has a way of sending messages to his countrymen- and it’s too dangerous to let him go free.”

“Ah, yes. You speak of the spell that erases the name St. Bonobo’s Abbey in writing, should one of our enemies put it down on paper. Unfortunately, I do not know the finer details of it. For that, you will want to speak with Brother Varo- the unicorn over there.” She pointed with a long finger to a grey unicorn perusing a scroll.

She limped across the room, Emmet following her. He seemed happy enough to let Destiny do the talking for now. “Brother Varo?” she asked, and the unicorn looked up from his scroll.

“Can I help you, young one?”

“We came to ask you about the spell that protects St. Bonobo’s Abbey. We have a problem on our hands, but that spell could be a real lifesaver.”

“Well, I know the incantation off by heart, so I would be glad to lend it to you,” Varo replied, putting the scroll down to search through a large pile of them. “It’s very simple- I’m sure you’ll have no trouble with it.” He handed a well-worn piece of parchment to Destiny, which she gratefully accepted. “The hardest part will be acquiring the material components for the spell- you will require a Skarakeet feather, a jar of dust, and…” he sighed. “A lock of unicorn hair. Should you bring the other two components to me, I will clip a lock of my mane for you to use. The spell does not consume the components, so you can cast it as many times as you need.”

Destiny dipped her head in thanks. “Thank you, Brother Varo. I will be back soon.”

* * *

Fortunately, finding the dust did not prove to be much trouble. Tierra Primata Skyway was filled with it- it was a simple matter to simply trap some of it in a jar. However, the Skarakeet feather would cause problems. At least, in Destiny’s mind.

“How are we going to get the feather?” Destiny asked the group. They were assembled near the wheel, so Hannah could hear what they were saying if need be.

“Kill a Skarakeet and pluck a feather?” Haley replied, her tone dry. “I don’t see much other choice.”

That was exactly Destiny’s problem, though, and she shook her head. “I don’t want to kill one. It never did anything to us, and we only need a feather.”

“Skarakeets are vicious- they will claw and peck,” Hazel pointed out. “How would you get a feather  _ without _ killing one?”

Destiny hesitated. Hazel had a point- that particular problem was one she didn't know how to solve. Then, Harmony chimed in. “What if we caught a Skarakeet with a net?”

“That could work,” Hazel conceded.

There was an abundance of rope lying around the  _ Bronze Garnet,  _ so the team sat down to work on weaving a net. The only real skill it required was knot-tying, which was practically essential for a pirate, so the task did not take long to complete.

They drifted near a group of Skarakeets. Harmony, Hazel, Hannah and Haley each held a corner of the net- Destiny’s job was to actually pluck the feather. They waited in tense silence, not wanting to aggravate the entire flock.

A young-looking Skarakeet swooped in close to the ship, cawing and brandishing its talons. In a heartbeat, the bird had been dragged to the deck. It let out a screech of anger, beak snapping at the rope as it struggled.

Destiny leaned forward, holding the Skarakeet down as she plucked a single feather. It gave another squawk of indignation, lasting out the best it could. The blonde witchdoctor hissed in pain and surprise as its talons created a rather nasty gash on the side of her hand.

The others released the Skarakeet as Destiny drew back, sucking on her wound to try and draw out the sting. Lieutenant Emmet waddled over.

“You'll want to get that looked at,” the otter advised. “Skarakeet scratches get easily infected.”

She nodded. Catching Hannah’s eye, she gestured that she was fine. The scratches would heal quick enough. Hannah nodded to confirm she saw, beginning to steer the  _ Bronze Garnet  _ back to St. Bonobo’s Abbey.

Once there, Brother Varo clipped a lock of his hair, as promised. The unicorn received many thanks as Destiny rushed back to the ship.

_ Let's see Alarico send messages now,  _ she thought smugly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's never really mentioned, but Alarico was sending messages by using a pigeon. It's a bit weird, hence why I never brought it up.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was written by Night.

“Captain Silver!”  Hannah still hadn’t gotten used to the way the Opposition soldiers who protected St. Bonobo’s Abbey liked to address her, and as Marissa’s crew members appeared from various parts of the abbey, it was clear they hadn’t either.

“Yes, what is it?” Hannah sighed.

“Orders from Her Majesty, Queen Eleanor, Captain.”

Hannah leaped to her feet.  “Orders?  You mean we’re finally getting off this rock?”

The monkey frowned.  “If that is the way you would like to look at it, yes.”  He handed her an envelope with slightly singed edges.  “Her Majesty expects you and your crew to have completed your task by this week’s end.”

“Thanks!”  Truly energized for the first time in the whole nine days they’d been staying with the monkey monks, Hannah raced away, charging across the grounds into the main complex and bursting into Destiny’s room and into a cloud of purple smoke.

“Hannah?  Is that you?” called a voice from deep within the fog.

“Yes,” Hannah confirmed.  “What in the Spiral are you doing?”

“Practicing some spells.”

Hannah coughed.  “I can see that.  Are you in the middle of something?”

“Um, kind of?  I dropped my staff by accident, and this happened.  What do you need?”

“Queen Eleanor _finally_ sent in our new orders!”

“Oh.  Orders.”  Destiny didn’t sound nearly as enthusiastic as Hannah felt.  After a moment, she realized why.

“Look at it this way,” she told her friend.  “If we’re on orders to stay here, there’s not much we can do.  But if we’re out in the Skyway anyway, what’s to stop us from doing some searching on our own?  At least this way we’ll be doing something!”

“I guess you’re right.  Oh, here it is!”  A blinding flash of purple light accompanied this last statement, assaulting Hannah’s eyes for a full four seconds before receding, taking the fog with it and revealing Destiny, looking a little disheveled, standing in the middle of the Spartan bedchamber.  “So what exactly are the orders?”

“I… uh…” Hannah blushed.  “I haven’t actually opened them yet.”

“Hannah!”

“I know, I know.”  Hannah tore open the top of the envelope, careful not to further damage the already weathered parchment.  Carefully pulling out a slightly scorched piece of paper, she began to read aloud.   _“Captain Silver, the Crown of the Opposition cordially requests the services of you and your crew.  The Royal Fleet under the command of Admiral Antonio Aiza must be destroyed forthwith.  The Crown expects you to accomplish this task by this week’s end.  Signed, Queen Eleanor of Monquista.”_

“Admiral Antonio Aiza,” Destiny mused.  “Alliterative.”

“I wonder if he’s any relation to our little friend in the brig,” Hannah commented.

“Wait, let me see that.”  Hannah relinquished the letter, and Destiny scanned it.  “She expects us to destroy an entire _fleet?”_

Hannah frowned.  “I’m sure we’ll think of something.”

Taking the letter back, Hannah left the room, heading down toward the tiny dock just outside the abbey’s outer walls.  It seemed that word of the mission had spread, for the whole conglomerated crew had gathered near the gates, along with a respectable crowd of monkey monks.  “What does Eleanor want this this time?” Hazel demanded.

“I’ll explain on the ship,” Hannah promised.  “We need to hurry.”

The fifteen-odd pirates of the conglomerated crew headed for the _Bronze Garnet,_ breaking into a run halfway down the well-manicured grounds.  Within minutes, everyone was aboard the ship, the moorings had been severed, the anchor raised, and they were casting off.

“Des, I need to fly.  Can you…”  She held out the orders from Queen Eleanor.

Thankfully, Destiny understood.  “Of course.  Everyone listen up!”  She read the letter aloud to the impatient group.

“She wants us to _what?”_ exclaimed several voices at once.

“Exactly,” Destiny said grimly.

“How, exactly, do you expect to destroy an entire fleet with one ship?” Haley demanded icily.

“We’ll be shot out of the sky for sure!” Harmony cried, distraught but no less extravagant than usual.

“That’s it, I’m done,” Hazel growled.

“Are ye sure about this, Captain?”

“What exactly will dying accomplish?”

“I will follow Her Majesty’s orders!”

“But will any of this help find the Captain?”

“I don’t—”

“It’s not—”

“This is so—”

“No way!”

“HAR!  SHUT UP, ALL OF YE!”  The pirates fell silent as all eyes turned to Silverblood.  “I’ve got an idea, if ye’ll stop yer gripin’ for one minute to listen!”

Skeptical silence.  Finally, Hannah spoke.  “I’m listening.” 

* * *

 “Are you sure you can do this?” Destiny asked anxiously.  She, Hazel, Haley, Harmony, and Silverblood were all crowded around Hannah.

“I’ll be fine,” Hannah assured her.

“Nobody flies like Hannah,” Hazel agreed, though she didn’t sound sure.

“Now remember,” Silverblood started, “the plan is—”

“I know what the plan is!” Hannah snapped, and everyone took a step back.  “Sorry.  Just leave me alone and let me do this, okay?”

“I still say we’re all going to die,” Haley grumbled, but retreated down the steps, followed closely by Hazel and Harmony.  Silverblood and Destiny backed off, but stayed on the poop near the wheel.

Hannah gazed out across the skyway.  The Marchioness had told her exactly where Aiza’s fleet patrolled, and they were getting close.  As she navigated past an outcropping of sandstone, Hannah spotted the red-and-gold flag of Antonio Aiza.  Steeling herself, she piloted the _Bronze Garnet_ toward the center of the fleet.

As expected, as soon as they were in weapons range, Aiza’s ships began firing.  As instructed, the gunners belowdecks returned fire randomly, not focusing on any single ship.  It seemed that the Monquistan fleet did know Hannah’s ship — all according to plan.  Instead of turning away, she flew the ship straight into the middle of the fleet, trying to ignore the thumps and cracks as shells impacted the hull.

Dodging as many cannonballs as she could, Hannah flew the ship full speed through the fleet before turning sharply, causing the ship to careen precariously to port before righting itself.  Making sure the Monquistan ships were following (they were), Hannah headed in the direction of Diablo Cut.  Meanwhile, the gunners continued to fire to keep the enemy fleet in pursuit.

“What’s that?” Destiny suddenly asked, pointing off the starboard side of the ship.

Hannah took a quick glance.  “Looks like a fortress of some sort, like Zenda — a prison, maybe?”

“Could be where they’re keepin’ Cap’n Silver,” Silverblood suggested.  Hannah shot him a quick look before realizing he had to be talking about Marissa.  It was just confusing that they had the same last name.

“Why don’t we just go there now?” Destiny suggested.

Hannah refocused on the sky in front of her.  “Think about it; we have a fleet pursuing us, so landing would be suicide.  Besides, now that we know where Marissa might be, we can go straight there as soon as we’re done.  All right, hold on tight.”

Hannah could only assume that Destiny and Silverblood were holding on, because she had to focus on navigating — they had reached the sharp rocks and treacherous winds of the Diablo Cut area.  Narrowing her eyes, she pulled the _Bronze Garnet_ between a pair of floating rocks. Behind her, she heard twin splintering noises as a pair of Aiza’s ships hit the stones on either side of the cleft.  She gritted her teeth and swerved around an irregular, sharp-edged stone, causing another navy ship to shatter.

The cleft in the cliff came into view, and Hannah gritted her teeth.  Instead of avoiding the fanged chasm as before, she plunged her ship straight into it.  Darkness fell instantly, and she could hear an ominous rustling sound.  Taking a risk, she released the wheel and cast the fastest night vision spell she’d ever attempted.  As the effects kicked in, she saw that her ship was headed straight toward a clump of thorny red vines on the wall of the cut.  With a gasp, she yanked on the wheel, directing the ship away from the writhing mass of plants.

In the narrow space, Hannah couldn’t concentrate on the ships behind her at all, so focused was she on keeping from crashing.  The average pilot would never have been able to do it, but Hannah wasn’t exactly average.  She pulled a lever she didn’t often use, as it put a lot of strain on the rigging, and the ship tilted back and flew upward and out of the cleft right before the end.  Flying the ship low over the top of the cliff, she headed back for the open sky.

As the ship settled back down onto the thicker air that formed a sort of surface that ships could fly on, Hannah scanned the skyway for signs of Aiza’s fleet.  A single ship that might have been the flagship limped along on the breeze; the rest were in splinters.  A wicked smile creeping across her face, Hannah flew straight for the flagship.  Since her ship was relatively unscathed, she easily caught up to the haggard ship.  “Gunners, fire!”

Roughly four cannon shots later, the helpless Monquistan ship was sinking down through the regular air below the surface, and no other members of the fleet remained.  Only then did Hannah realize that nobody was still on the deck.  “Oh, stars…”  Leaving her wheel, Hannah quickly let down the anchor and ran down the companionway.  “Destiny!”

“Ungh…”

“Thank goodness!  I thought you’d fallen overboard!  Did everyone make it through?”

A chorus of voices replied affirmatively.  “That was some really fancy flying!” Hazel exclaimed.

Hannah smiled at the praise.  “Thanks.  I think that part is over, but the excitement isn’t.  Next stop: Monquista’s prison island!”


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was written by me.

The _Bronze Garnet_ silently glided up beside the prison island. It had been agreed upon that using the official dock was foolish, so they had a bit more trouble than usual landing, but they managed it. The fortress looked new, probably only built after Zenda had been taken over by the Opposition. It was also several stories higher than Zenda, and overall looked even _less_ inviting. A shiver ran down Destiny’s spine and she tried to turn her mind to other things.

“Guard patrols look routine,” Harmony commented as she stepped up beside the blonde. She cast the slightly older girl a questioning look, wondering how she knew that, to which she received a shrug. “You learn the strangest things when you grow up with my sister. Apparently there’s some book that describes a typical Monquistan guard patrol.”

“Harmony is correct.” Without looking, Destiny knew the Marchioness had spoken. “Still, we must always expect the unexpected. What we see is merely the outside of this fortress- what lies inside is yet to be seen. I would suggest a night attack-”

“No.” Destiny was actually surprisingly good at the poker face, thanks to her (partially) noble upbringing, she just never really found a reason to use it. Now, however, she employed it to hide the excitement bursting from her- they were so close to finding Marissa, and she wasn’t willing to wait for dusk.

The Marchioness gave her a vaguely judgmental look, before sighing. “Very well.”

Hannah wandered over. “Are you guys ready to go?” The Marchioness and Harmony both nodded, but Destiny hesitated, a wave of apprehension washing over her.

“I don’t know. I have a bad feeling about this…” she said uncertainly.

“C’mon, Des, I’m sure it’ll be fine!” Harmony assured. “Besides, if we’re right and this is where they’re keeping Marissa, we’ll get to see our friend again! And this time, she won’t be snatched away from us.”

“We hope,” Destiny joked, though the tone was much lighter. Hannah watched the exchange with a smile on her face. The younger witchdoctor turned her eyes to the fortress. “Even if we know the patrol routes, we have to be careful. One unexpected turn could be our undoing.” She thought back to Alarico’s mansion.

“What if we went in small groups, rather than moving as a large unit?” Hannah suggested. “We could probably put together a pretty effective scouting team, too. Hazel, Bonnie, the Marchioness… what do you think?”

“It sounds like a good idea to me,” Destiny agreed, and Harmony hummed her approval. The Marchioness dipped her head, surprising the blonde with her willingness to comply.

“I shall fetch the other two.” She made her way to where the rest of the united crew was assembled.

“So do we just follow after they go ahead?” Harmony questioned. Hannah and Destiny both nodded.

Hazel was at their side then. “The Marchioness says that her, Bonnie and I are meant to scout ahead. Is that right?”

Hannah nodded. “If you’re okay with it.”

“I’m fine with it. Try not to die.”

Destiny chose not to comment on the obvious advice, continuing to employ the poker face. “Likewise. We’ll be right behind you.”

Hazel darted off to join her group, the other three humans slowly following. The rest of the massive crew was waiting expectantly for orders (well, Marissa’s crew were pretty spaced out, but that had become the new normal).

“We’re the distraction for Hazel’s team.” Hannah addressed them, her tone clear and strong. Destiny marvelled at her, once again reminded that ‘Captain’ was a title that extended beyond one’s ship, on both land and sky. “Stick together- they’ve got numbers on their side, and every guard will be focusing on us.”

_She’s amazing,_ Destiny thought as there was a chorus of affirmatives.  _I know I wouldn’t last a day as a Captain. People like Hannah are truly gifted._

The subject of her thoughts snapped her out of them. “Destiny?”

“Huh?” The blonde blinked, shaking herself a little. “Sorry, Hannah, I got a little lost in thought. Did you say something?”

“I said we have to get moving.” A gentle smile crossed her fellow witchdoctor’s face. “We’re the distraction, so we’re going to engage the patrols directly.”

That made sense. Reaching for her staff, Destiny replied, “Lead the way. I’ll be right beside you.”

Heading forwards, the group reached the fortress just as a patrol rounded the corner. Two small monkeys broke from the back to sound the alarm. They let them go- they _wanted_ to draw attention, after all.

The rest of the patrol was a small number of monkeys, three to be exact. They were hardly threatening. They seemed to realize this, lingering out of range of the melee combatants.

The witchdoctors, however, were _not_ melee combatants. Destiny stepped back into the crowd of people, masking her from view. She let go of her staff with one hand, careful not to drop it this time, humming a song as loud as she could. The song, and origin of the spell, was Krokotopian. Naturally, given it derived from one of the most magical worlds in the Spiral, its effects were profound. The dust beneath the monkeys flurried up, getting in their eyes. They screeched in pain, prancing around as they tried to ease the sting.

Three members of the group- Haley, Harmony and Kan Po- reacted faster than the others. The leader was taken out by the grumpy privateer, while the monkey right beside him found himself messing with the less pleasant end of Harmony’s spear. The final monkey was instantly killed by the full force of Kan’s staff slamming into the back of his head.

At that moment, what had to be every patrol showed up. The furry primates were not pleased- though that was hardly surprising.

In the next moment, everything turned to chaos. Destiny couldn’t focus on anything but her own battles, though she was dimly aware of her friends spreading apart so they had room to fight. Yelling and screeching filled her ears, along with the occasional gunshot from Bella. The thick stench of blood filled her lungs. Trying not to inhale too deeply, Destiny began to prepare a spell. This spell also drew on the power of a song, this one MooShuese. Unlike the Krokotopian spell, it focused on the pitch and formation of notes, rather than the raw power and volume. She had to focus much more, knowing that if she was even a note off, the spell would shatter and expel all its power at once. She’d rather not discover what would happen then.

As she sung the final note, nothing seemed to happen. Then a supernatural rain began to fall- it was normal water to her and her allies, but from the monkey’s perspective, it would burn and prick their skin.

Now that she could note her surroundings again, Destiny realized she’d completed her spell just in time. The four monkeys that were heading towards her stumbled over their own feet as the raindrops fell on them- dispatching them was as simple as filling her staff with energy and whacking them with it.

This was how she was forced to fight, as she couldn’t cast a new spell while the rain was active. The blonde paused every now and again to sing a few renewing notes, and soon enough, the battle had moved to the fortress entrance. The few remaining guards ran for their lives, disappearing inside the vast structure.

She turned to look at Hannah, who was walking up beside her. “We’re going after them, right?”

“Of course.” The older girl’s response was immediate. “We have to make sure Hazel’s team doesn’t encounter too much resistance.”

Destiny nodded, making her way inside with the rest of the group behind her. Instantly, she noticed curls of grey mist creeping into the air. Then she realized it wasn’t mist- it was smoke.

_Hazel and her group must have lit fires inside to draw the attention of any interior guards. Clever._ She scanned her surroundings. The fortress immediately opened into a large courtyard, the same monotonous orange and tan colours as the rest of the building. A couple of corridors led off to the sides of the fortress, and she spotted what looked like it could be a stairwell entrance.

“We need to split up again.” She addressed Hannah quietly. “I’m starting to realize crawling this whole place as one unit is too time-consuming.”

“Good thinking.” She turned to the conglomerated crew. “We’re splitting up. Harmony, you’re with Destiny and I- the rest of you keep going.”

The brunette happily bounced over to them, but Egg Shen approached them at a slower pace. “I’m coming with you.” His tone was neutral, but allowed no room for argument- a quick glance at the still cloudy look in his eyes confirmed that getting any sort of rational answer as to why was highly unlikely.

Hannah and Destiny exchanged a glance, before the older of the pair shrugged. “All right.” She turned to the rest of their friends. “We’ll head left- you guys go right. Keep an eye out for Hazel and her group.”

No arguments were heard, so the two groups split off. As Destiny made her way forward, she started coughing as the smoke grew thicker. In the distance, she could hear the shrill screaming of some monkeys, likely trying to contain a fire.

“Are you okay?” Hannah questioned as she ducked lower, Harmony echoing her words.

“I’ll be fine,” Destiny assured, though she coughed a few more times. At that point, they rounded a corner, finding the monkeys that the blonde had heard earlier. There were six- no, seven- of them, and the two parties stared at each other, frozen.

“Seize them!” The silence shattered as the guards swarmed forwards. The three humans and one goose sprang into action, Harmony and Egg Shen settling into defensive stances in front of the witchdoctors.

Another swift assessment of their foes revealed two crossbow-wielding primates. Destiny exchanged a silent look with Hannah, picking out the one closer to them as her target. Closing her eyes, she began to chant, trying to tap into her very soul’s energy. It stirred as she reached for it, her chanting growing louder and more rhythmatic. She kept this up until a burning sensation ignited in her chest- the point of optimal power. Fighting the instinct to gasp, she sealed the spell. “Soulreaver!”

Inhaling a deep breath, Destiny observed the effects. She’d never cast the spell out of practice before. The spell looked almost identical to Ghostwail, though the summoned spirits had a violet tint to them. Her target’s eyes widened and his mouth opened in a silent scream before he fell to the ground, dead.

A feminine cry of pain caught her attention. Turning to look, she saw that Harmony now bore a wound on her left hip that bled profusely. “Are you okay?”

The buccaneer turned to her, about to reply when her expression turned to panic. “Watch out!” She darted forwards, holding her spear in a block. Destiny realized that a monkey had been creeping up behind her, and felt a rush of gratitude towards her friend.

However, the monkey then made a swift strike at the brunette. Harmony gasped as a new wound opened just below her right knee. Filling her staff with energy, Destiny took out the monkey before he could injure her friend further.

There was only one monkey left, and Egg Shen quickly took care of him. Destiny was about to say something, when an angry voice rang out through the corridor.

“Halt!”

“Looks like we’re not out of the woods just yet,” Harmony commented, though pain tempered her tone.

“Should we run for it?” Destiny asked after the quickest headcount she’d ever done in her life. They were outnumbered at least seven to one. However, before Hannah could reply, Egg Shen spoke.

“Get behind me. I can take care of this.”

Destiny glanced at the goose, but her protest died on her tongue as she saw the new clarity in his eyes. So far, every idea suggested by Marissa’s crew had succeeded. Hannah seemed to realize this, complying with the goose’s request. Destiny and Harmony did the same.

As the monkeys drew dangerously close, the blonde couldn’t help but feel something was off. Egg Shen had not moved from his stance, still as a statue.

A monkey stepped within two meters of the goose.

Shen moved so quickly he seemed to turn into a blur. Destiny’s jaw dropped and she didn’t bother to close it. She couldn’t even really follow his attacks- the monkeys just seemed to fall over when he came close. _I can definitely see why Marissa recruited him._

Hannah and Harmony also watched in fascination as the goose ploughed through the crowd, a whirling mass of destruction. He came to a halt as the last guard was slain, and Destiny noticed that his whole body seemed to droop.

_Using that much energy in such a short span of time must have exhausted him,_ Destiny realized.  _I hope he’s okay!_

“We must hurry,” Shen said, sounding weary. “More will come soon.”

“Right.” Hannah nodded. “Let’s head this way.”

They made their way down the corridor in the direction the guards had come from. Their footfalls seemed extraordinarily loud in Destiny’s ears, and her heartbeat still raced from the close call.

They were approaching a side door when they heard the shouting of another patrol. Not wanting to take her chances, Destiny darted over to it and tried the doorknob. Finding it unlocked, she urged, “In here!”

The four wasted no time cramming themselves into the room, quickly but quietly closing the door behind them. Destiny pressed her ear up against the door, listening until the monkeys had passed.

Once they were safe, the blonde witchdoctor actually observed the chamber they were in. Crossbows and halberds were scattered throughout the room, and she realized this must be where the weapons that were confiscated from prisoners were kept. Immediately, she started looking around for a specific set of weapons. Her eyes were drawn to the far corner of the room where, sure enough, she found what she was looking for.

“Marissa’s sword and shield,” she said, lifting a hand to point at the equipment. The shield had a griffon (the privateer’s emblem) painted on it in black, whereas the guard of the sword was shaped like a griffon’s wings.

“I’ll carry them,” Harmony immediately volunteered, limping over and positioning the shield on her back, then tucking the sword into her belt. Destiny allowed herself a moment to appreciate the buccaneer’s strength to carry extra weight she wasn’t used to, even with her injuries.

_It’s all well and good that we found her weapons,_ she thought, _but we still have to find Marissa herself._ _Hopefully it’s not too hard._


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written by Night. Totally worth all the waiting.

“Can you walk?” Destiny asked Harmony.

“I think so,” the battered buccaneer replied, staggering to her feet.  Hannah hurried over to help her up, but Harmony waved her away impatiently, leaning heavily on the splintered shaft of her spear as she stood.

“We must hurry,” said Egg Shen.  “Now that we have the Captain’s arms, we must rescue the Captain herself.”

They left the small chamber and found that the corridor was in even worse shape than before.  The entire hallway to their left was full of smoke, small fires, and monkey guards trying desperately to contain the flames before they could spread more than they already had.  The moment they set foot in the corridor, five monkeys rushed them, and the lead ape managed to slice Hannah’s left arm before she could finish the Mojo Strike spell.  She winced but managed to finish it, injuring and momentarily stunning the patrol.

“Run!” Destiny shrieked as more monkeys flooded toward them from the stretch of corridor that wasn’t burning.  Hannah gave a quick nod and began to dash into the burning area, but stopped short as she realized that Harmony was barely limping along, and Egg Shen seemed about to collapse from exhaustion.

“We need more _time_ ,” she said to herself, frustrated.  “Wait — Destiny, how did you make that fog back in the abbey this morning?”

Destiny looked startled.  “All I did was fill my staff with magic, then drop it,” she replied, confused.

“Right.”  Focusing, ignoring the fact that they were about to be surrounded, she channeled as much power as she could, then tossed her staff into the air.  Instantly, purple smoke billowed out, smothering the fires and mingling with the regular grey smoke that already filled the air.  She winced at the sound of Harmony coughing.  Reaching out blindly, she groped around until she found a hand that wasn’t furry and grabbed it. “Who’s this?”

“It’s me.”  Destiny’s voice sounded a little odd, but Hannah didn’t have time to think about that.

“Where’s Harmony?”

“I’ve got her.”

“And Egg Shen?”

“I’m here as well,” replied the goose’s voice.

“Excellent.”  Hannah led the group blindly down the corridor, crashing into several monkeys, none of whom were in any state to start a fight. The smoke began to thin right as a wall loomed out of nowhere.  She pulled up short, causing Destiny to slam into her and send the both of them sprawling.

“Ouch,” Destiny groaned.

“Tell me about it,” Hannah agreed, gently pushing Destiny off of her and climbing to her feet.

Destiny stood as well.  “What about your staff?”

“My energy should still be connected to my staff’s.  Close your eyes.”  Not looking to see whether her companions complied, Hannah closed her own eyes and reached within herself, feeling her energy stir.  She felt a responding stir from somewhere down the hall and reached her right hand toward it.  Her hand grew warm and then hot, and just when she knew she couldn’t hold the energy any longer, her fingers closed around the sturdy wood-and-bone rod of her staff’s handle.  The energy released all at once in a flash that blinded her even through her eyelids and scorched her hand. She yelped and opened her eyes to find that the fog had vanished.

“You didn’t mention it would hurt so much,” she accused, nursing her burned hand.

“You just used a lot more energy than I did,” Destiny countered.  “Uncontrolled energy like that can do unexpected things.  You know that’s one of Vadima’s first lessons!”

“I know, I know,” Hannah sighed.

“Get them!” shouted a simian voice.

“Looks like break time is over.”  Harmony smiled, then winced.

The plaque on the door at the end of the corridor read _East Wing_ — recalling that the eastern and western wings were the parts of the fortress that actually housed prisoners, Hannah yanked open the door and darted through, followed closely by Destiny and more slowly by Harmony and Egg Shen.  As soon as they were through, she turned and slammed the door, blasting the lock with a scorching burst of magic to keep the monkeys from getting through.  She could hear the soldiers pounding on the door, but it held.  For the moment, they were safe…

“Duck!” Shen said suddenly.  Hannah yelped in surprise and dropped to the floor as a volley of crossbow bolts impacted the door where her head had been only moments before.  “We’re not safe yet,” said Marissa’s goose companion.

“I noticed,” Hannah replied breathlessly.

“Seize the intruders!”

Hannah considered the new host of assailants, then turned to the buccaneers.  “If Destiny and I hold off the soldiers, can you check through the cells?”

“Of course!” said Harmony.  Hannah suspected she would have said something similar if she’d been missing all four limbs, let alone bruised and bleeding from two enormous gashes.  She didn’t doubt it, however.  Egg Shen echoed Harmony’s words, looking exhausted and grateful.

They had no more time for discussion, for at that moment a host of Monquistan swordsmen (swordsmonkeys?) reached them, attacking ferociously.  Hannah passed her staff from her right hand to her left, back to her right, back to her left, and back to her right once more, chanting in an ancient magical language the whole while.  Noticing what she was doing, Destiny joined in, creating an eerie harmony.  The air shimmered pale green, the glow growing thicker and more shimmery as they chanted.  The two witchdoctors settled into a natural back-to-back stance as the shield spell thickened and solidified into a translucent green bubble surrounding them.  Monkeys’ swords and arrows bounced off, sending shining ripples across the iridescent surface.

Once she was protected, Hannah wasted no time in pulling her T-shaped totems from her pocket, throwing them down in a circle around her, and chanting the Ghostwail spell, knocking out a monkey who’d been trying to sneak up on Harmony.  Using her staff, ancient chants, and a variety of bones and totems, Hannah cast spell after spell after spell, letting monkeys approach her and bounce off the shield as she focused on protecting Harmony and Shen as they searched the cells.  From the corner of her eye, she noticed Destiny doing the same.

“None… on this… floor,” Harmony’s voice called breathlessly from the far end of the hall just as the shield spell began to shimmer and fade. A monkey struck the bubble with his sword, and the spell shattered, green sparks flying everywhere.  Hannah and Destiny ran down the hall at a full sprint, avoiding monkeys when they could, taking minor injuries when they couldn’t get out of the way, and finally catching up to the buccaneers about halfway up the stairs to the next level.

Destiny glanced over her shoulder.  “They’re gaining on us!  Can’t we go any faster?”

“I can try,” Harmony said doubtfully.

“Never mind, I’ll hold them off.”  Destiny looked terrified, but she set her jaw, turned, and readied her staff.

“Are you sure?” Hannah asked, looking doubtfully at her friend, but she knew how brave Destiny could really be, so she was unsurprised by her reply.

“Don’t distract me.”  The younger girl began chanting, and Hannah nodded, a lump rising to her throat.

The three of them resumed climbing, and Hannah tried to ignore the blasts, thumps, yells, and chanting from below, but it wasn’t easy.  They reached the landing laboriously and ducked into the second-floor corridor, slamming the door shut behind them.  The hallway was mercifully empty.

Hannah squeezed her eyes shut.  She knew what she had to do, though it made her want to cry.  Summoning a burst of energy, she blasted the lock the way she had with the door on the ground floor.  Now nothing could get through — friend or foe.

“You know you just locked your friend in there.”

“Yes, I do,” said Hannah, not meeting his gaze.  “Come on, we have cells to search.”  Not waiting for a reply, she started down the row of cells, glancing into each cell she passed.  Nearly every cell either was empty or housed a monkey prisoner, so it didn’t take long for the three of them to search the whole corridor.

“We should try the next floor,” said Harmony, but though her words were stoic, her voice seemed close to tears from pain and exhaustion.

“Not just yet,” Hannah countered.  “There’s nobody here; we should take advantage of that and rest.”

The buccaneers needed no further prompting; both immediately slid to the floor, where Shen curled up and fell asleep, and Harmony took several deep breaths before starting to bind her wounds.  Hannah stood, patrolling back and forth across the hall to make sure no guards attacked from either direction.  Time felt wrong; Hannah wasn’t sure whether they spent several years like that, several hours, or only a few minutes.  All she knew was that she was bruised, sliced, and a little scorched, and that her friend might have died to protect her.  She grew more and more tense as the time passed, and she couldn’t stop her staff from glowing green as her agitation increased.

After what felt like an eternity, Shen stretched his wings and stood, and Harmony climbed to her feet, no longer bleeding and looking energized.  “Next floor, then?” she said with slightly false-sounding brightness.

“I guess so.”  As they approached the doorway to the stairwell, Hannah grew apprehensive.  No sound came from beyond, which meant that one way or another, the battle was over.  _I don’t want to look.  I don’t want to find out that my best friend is dead._

At that moment, the choice was taken away from her as the door shattered with a tremendous _bang!_ Instantly on guard, the three lined up shoulder-to-shoulder, readying their weapons as the dust that had once been the door settled and a figure emerged from the stairwell.  A figure much too large to be a monkey.

“You know, you didn’t have to lock me out.”  Destiny sounded fatigued but cheerful.  Hannah and Harmony rushed forward to hug her.

“How did you… I mean… are you…?”  Hannah couldn’t form a complete sentence.

Destiny pulled out of the hug and smiled, her blue eyes shining in the dim light.  “Those monkeys didn’t stand a chance!”

Hannah pushed back a flood of emotions.  _I’ve got to keep it together._ “Well, if everyone’s okay, we should get moving.  There are three more floors to search.”

The other three nodded, and the re-energized group raced up the stairs to the next level.  Like the previous floor, it was oddly deserted — maybe all the monkeys had been called down to the ground floor to deal with the attackers.  With four people searching, it didn’t take the group long to ascertain that the third floor was completely empty.  The same proved true on the fourth floor.  As they searched the top, Hannah was beginning to think that Marissa was probably imprisoned in the opposite wing, and they’d fought their way here for nothing, when Harmony let out a shriek.

The other three rushed into the cell and found their friend staring out the cell’s barred window.  “Look at this,” said the buccaneer, her voice a little shaky.  Hannah and Destiny squeezed in on either side of her, leaving Shen hopping behind them in a futile attempt to see.  Gazing down on the central courtyard, Hannah saw the reason for the hardy teen’s distress.

A vicious battle raged in the center of the area.  It seemed that Hazel’s scouting patrol had met up with the rest of the crew, but that was the only positive thing Hannah could see.  What seemed to be every surviving monkey in the prison had surrounded the combined crew and was pressing in, forcing them closer together.  Worse, the crew seemed in disarray — several indistinguishable figures lay motionless, and Hannah’s crew, along with Haley and Hazel, seemed to be protecting Marissa’s crew as they stared into space, not seeming to realize they were under attack.

Destiny voiced Hannah’s thoughts.  “They need help!”

Without further thought, the foursome raced out of the cell and back down the corridor, taking the stairs to the ground level four at a time. Harmony and Shen hopped down the entire last flight, leaving the witchdoctors to scramble down behind them.  As they reached the bottom, the buccaneers wasted no time in racing out into the courtyard, but Destiny stopped suddenly.

“What is it?” Hannah asked, confused.  “You said it yourself — our friends need us!”

“Marissa,” Destiny explained.  “If all the monkeys are there, we might have a clear path to where they’re keeping her!”

Hannah froze.  “You’re right.  I didn’t even think of that, but you’re right!”

“The west wing, then?”

Hannah gave a nod, blasting open the door on which she had previously melted the lock.  The pair sprinted down the hallway the way they’d come, passing the room where they’d found Marissa’s weapons and making for the door that would take them into the west wing.  Somehow, the corridor felt much longer empty than it had filled with monkeys, smoke, and pandemonium.  Hannah’s apprehension mounted with every step, and the sounds of battle ringing through the stone wall didn’t help at all.

They reached the door without incident, Destiny arriving slightly before Hannah and wrenching it open.  The pair rushed down the ground-floor west corridor as they had many other halls in the east wing, hurriedly checking cells for Marissa and trying not to think about their inevitable discovery.  Their search yielded no results on the first floor, nor on the second.  As they ascended the stairs to the third floor, their pace beginning to flag, the unmistakable screech of an ape in pain rang out through the stairwell from somewhere above them.  Destiny and Hannah turned to each other, then launched themselves up past the third-floor landing toward the sound.

As the witchdoctors ascended, more sounds of a scuffle echoed down to them, rising to a crescendo as they passed the fourth-floor landing before falling disturbingly quiet.  Without warning, they rounded the bend between flights of stairs and came face-to-face with a large group of very surprised-looking monkeys in especially fancy armor.

For several dreadful seconds, humans and monkeys stared at one another, giving Hannah a moment to apprise the situation.  Eight monkeys stood before the pair, all wearing identical fancy armor and displeased expressions.  Between them, they dragged something long, unwieldy, and seemingly fairly heavy.  Something with ragged, bloodied pink attire and unkempt strawberry blonde hair.  “Marissa!” Destiny exclaimed, breaking the horrible silence.

“Ah, you know this pirate?” a black monkey with a long, fluffy white tail asked, smirking cruelly.  “Then I suppose you know what is to happen to her?”

Destiny and Hannah exchanged a quick glance, then shook their heads.  The monkey’s smile widened.  “My comrades and I are taking her to the palace in Monquista City.  There, she will be tried for piracy, treason, and war crimes, and her death sentence will be carried out.”

“What!” Hannah exclaimed.  Destiny simply froze, looking horrified, and in that moment, the monkeys swarmed them.  Before Hannah knew what was happening, three apes had her pinned and immobile except for her head.  One monkey wrenched her staff away from her; another chained her right wrist to Destiny’s left.  The monkeys hauled the startled pair to their feet, and Hannah immediately lashed out, kicking the nearest monkey in the stomach.  He doubled up in pain, but before Hannah could do any more, one of the monkeys who had stayed back from the fight pressed the edge of his sword against Marissa’s throat.

“The two of you will come quietly and allow yourselves to be imprisoned.  If you do not comply, I will carry out your friend’s sentence right here.”

Hannah and Destiny exchanged an uncomfortable glance, then nodded in unison.  A pair of Monquistadors escorted them up the stairs to the top floor and shoved them roughly into a cell, locking the door behind them.  The boom of the cell door sounded uncomfortably final, ringing in Hannah’s ears as the extent of what had just happened settled on her mind.  Obviously the monkeys they had just encountered were a cut above the rest.  They had badly underestimated their enemies and were paying the price because of it.

Crossing the cell, Destiny sank onto the hard iron bench and, dragging her fingers through her honey-blonde hair, buried her face in her hands.  Hannah sat down beside her.  “It’s going to be okay,” she reassured her distraught-seeming friend.

Destiny shushed her.  “I’m trying to think.”

“Oh.”  The pair sat in silence for a moment, and Hannah found herself leaning against her younger friend for support; after a few minutes, she felt herself starting to nod off from sheer exhaustion.  She was just slipping into an uneasy dream when Destiny jerked upright, jolting Hannah awake.

“I have an idea.  I think.”  Destiny turned to look Hannah in the eyes.  “Ready to be annoying?”  Hannah nodded, grinning more and more as her friend explained the plan.  They stood as one and headed to the door.

 _"On three?”_ Hannah whispered.

Destiny nodded.  “ _One… two… three!”_ Immediately both witchdoctors began kicking and pounding the door for all they were worth, screaming at the top of their voices.  After maybe four seconds of this, the door banged open and their guards stormed in.

“What do you _want!”_ roared one of them, his long tail sticking straight out behind him in anger.  To Hannah’s delight, he held her staff in his left hand and Destiny’s in his right.

“My staff back,” said Hannah, kicking him.  She was no physical fighter, so there was little strength behind the blow, but it was enough to stun him long enough for she and Destiny to seize their staffs.  The moment they did, a green glow suffused the room.  The chains binding them together snapped, and both monkeys swore.

A few spells and a lot of shouting later, the guards lay unconscious outside the cell door.  “We’ve got to get down to the docks, and _fast,”_ Destiny commented, barely seeming winded after the brief skirmish.

“The stairs will be too slow,” Hannah agreed, glancing around for inspiration.  Outside their cell’s window, battle still raged in the courtyard but seemed to be winding down; very few monkeys were left standing.  “Harmony!” she called down.

The brunette simultaneously looked up at her window and bashed a guard with the butt of her spear.  “All right up there?”

“Just fine,” Hannah called back.  “Do you have a moment?”

“Sure, what do you need?”

“Mind standing under the window?”

Harmony looked confused.  “Um, sure…?”  Leaving the battle, she strode over to stand beneath the cell’s window.

“Thank you.”  Hannah touched her staff to the bars and pushed a surge of raw power through it, causing them to explode and her hand to sting fiercely.  Ignoring the sensation, she used the bench to boost herself out the window, ignoring Destiny’s yelp of alarm. As she free-fell toward the ground, she just had time to think, _This was a really bad idea,_ before Harmony caught her, setting her gently on her feet.

“Hannah!” Destiny cried from the cell high above.

“Jump!  It’ll be fine!”

“I never agreed to this,” Harmony said, but she didn’t sound angry, and her leaf-green eyes sparkled with barely suppressed mischief.

Destiny made an annoyed noise (Hannah suspected she made it loudly enough for her to hear on purpose), but jumped.  Despite knowing that her friend would be fine, Hannah tensed, but moments later, Harmony had set Destiny on her feet, and the latter was glaring at Hannah.  “We’ll talk about this later,” she said mutinously.

Hannah grinned at her.  “I look forward to it.”  She turned to Harmony.  “Can you get everyone back to the _Bronze Garnet?”_

Harmony seemed surprised, and Hannah couldn’t blame her.  “Where’s Marissa, though?”

“No time to explain.  Just get everyone back to the ship!”

Harmony frowned, but nodded.  “You can count on me.”

“Wait, one more thing!” Hannah exclaimed, remembering suddenly.

“What is it?  You said yourself that we’re in a hurry.”

“I need Marissa’s weapons.”

“Got it.”  Harmony pulled the shield from her back and the sword from her belt and handed them to Hannah, who situated them in a way she hoped wouldn’t get in the way.

As soon as she finished that, she raced for the main entrance, knowing that would be the quickest way to the official dock.  Destiny followed close behind.  Fortunately, the gate was unlocked, so they had only to fling open the uncharacteristically large (for Monquistan structures) doors and race through toward the small collection of Monquistan Navy ships.

It was easily evident which ship Marissa had been taken to; three ships floated abandoned in the sky, sails limp, while the fourth bustled with simian activity.  A monkey stood on the dock, working to untie the moorings and cast off.  Seeing this, Hannah picked up her pace, flat-out sprinting and dashing up the plank onto the ship before the monkey could finish, startling him so much he fell on his rump.

“Intruders!” exclaimed a monkey by the mast.  Twenty or so monkeys turned to face the two foolishly brave witchdoctors who had just boarded their ship.

“Get them off, you idiots!” bellowed a monkey who had to be the captain (Hannah could tell by the especially ridiculous helmet he wore). Hannah and Destiny exchanged a quick look and, as one, dashed for the hatch.  Twin green bolts blasted the hatch to splinters, and Hannah grinned at her friend.  Destiny scowled in response, and they charged down the stairs.

“Marissa!” Destiny called as they reached the bottom of the stairs, monkeys clattering down behind them.

After a brief pause, a tired voice called out, “Destiny?”

“Marissa!”  Destiny ran ahead to where the voice had originated and had the door open within moments. Despite her bloodied appearance of earlier, the ginger-haired privateer looked in good health, which struck Hannah as strange, but she had no time to think about it.  However, the legend’s eyes were just as wild as those of her crew members. As quickly as she could, she unbuckled the sword and pulled the shield off her back, handing both to Marissa.

The Iron Dove nodded tersely.  “Thank you.  Are we leaving yet?”

“Ready when you are,” Destiny replied with a small smile.  The three left the cell and found the crew of the Monquistan ship waiting for them.

The captain pointed his undersized sword at Marissa.  “Surrender now and you will retain your right to a fair trial before your death.”

“Not.  Happening,” Marissa retorted.  “Attack!”

By this point, the frenzy of battle, flashing swords, and frantic spell-casting had become almost routine for Hannah.  She was just getting into her stride when a shout rang out from the stairs.  “Intruders on the deck!”

 _Intruders on the deck?_ As the Monquistadors turned toward the stairs, several gunshots rang out, echoing through the companionway. Moments later, three figures appeared at the top of the stairs, one much shorter than the other two.  “Well?” called someone irritably, and Hannah had never been more glad to hear Haley’s voice.

“We weren’t going to miss the party!” Hazel called, firing into the throng and taking out a monkey soldier.

“Coming?” Harmony added.  She now sported a jagged gash on her forehead that bled freely into her eyes, but seemed none the worse for it. Swinging her spear, she knocked the nearest monkey to her down the stairs, toppling several of the others.

Suddenly, a green light suffused the corridor and companionway, softer and more vivid than the light hoodoo spells tended to cause.  A flood of creatures — centaurs, what seemed to be living trees, and stranger things Hannah couldn’t name — thundered down the corridor, laying waste to the monkeys.  In the center of it all stood Marissa, seemingly with no idea what was going on; she stared blankly into the distance, twitching slightly and giving no sign that she noticed the pandemonium surrounding her.

Hannah snapped her fingers in front of Marissa’s face, eliciting no reaction.  Noticing this, Destiny grabbed Marissa by the arm, which seemed to wake her up a little.  “We need to leave,” the younger of the two witchdoctors insisted.  Not waiting for an answer, she pulled Marissa along, and Hannah led the way up the stairs with the other two close behind.  As they reached the top, their friends joined them, and the five debarked and sped across the grounds toward where the _Bronze Garnet_ was hidden.

“The rest of the crew is already on the ship?” Hannah checked.

“Yep!” Harmony affirmed.  “Safe and sound and ready for action!  Well, and badly injured in several cases, but that’s beside the point.”

“Glad to hear it,” Hannah replied, starting to get a little breathless from all the running.  They rounded a corner and quickly boarded the familiar ship, and Hannah headed straight for the wheel.  Meanwhile, Haley severed the moorings with a quick stroke of her sword, and soon they were away, sailing across Tierra Primata Skyway with the Iron Dove safely aboard their ship.

“Hannah?”  Destiny sounded much less angry than she had earlier, so Hannah turned to face her.

“What is it, Des?”  In response, the younger witchdoctor slapped her across the face, totally blindsiding her.  “What was that for?” she exclaimed indignantly.

Destiny just shook her head and stared at her hand, seemingly amazed at her own action.  “Just… if you _ever_ scare me like that again…”

“Point taken.”  Hannah smiled at her best friend.  _We’ve come this far together, and no matter what, eventually, we will reach the end of this quest, and then… well, after that, who can say?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was an amazing ride! I'm so happy it's finally done, and really excited to move onto the next story. See you all in the sequel!


End file.
